


The Other Daughter

by Emz597



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Original Characters - Freeform, Pre-Slash, Romance, Season 1 Spoilers, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-23
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-10-26 11:37:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/282589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emz597/pseuds/Emz597
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You haven't told them what happened? Or who I am?" When a mystery women turns up on Danny's arm, Steve's irrational jealousy reaches new heights. Who is she? Steve soon discovers that Danny's past is a lot darker than he'd first thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Slash so if you don't like don't read you have been warned! Violence and talks of rape and abuse.  
> Spoilers:Squint really hard you'll see some from Season 1  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii 5-0, the ideas and characters belong to their respectful owners. No infringement intended.  
> This is basically my first everything so please be nice or risk the wrath that is Steve's puppy face. Reviews and suggestions will be much appreciated. Thank you and much love to everyone who has helped me with my story and to breakcamp for the beta.

Danny couldn’t help but smile. Today was a good day. No one had got hurt in the rescue of the kidnapped girl in the early hours of the morning. Steve, for once, had actually called and waited for back up before going into a house of a suspected drug lord. And best of all it was Friday - five to six in the afternoon to be precise. In half an hour he’d be smiling and laughing as young slender arms squeezed him to death.

Turning off his computer, Danny looked out into the bullpen. Chin and Kono were looking over something on the computer table as Steve walked in from a phone call with the Governor. Sighing, Danny got up and walked towards his office door not looking forward to the conversation he knew was coming.

“Alright crazy people... and Chin, I’ll see you guys on Monday,” called out Danny as he headed towards the main doors of HQ.

“Uh, Danno? You do know it’s Friday right?” asked Steve with a half confused, half amused look on his face (Danny called it the ‘And Danny’s a cop _how_?’ face). Rolling his eyes, Danny turned back to face the rest of the team and replied

“Well done, Captain Obvious, didn’t know you could get a medal for that in the Army.”

“Navy, Danny! And that’s Lt. Commander Obvious to you. It’s Friday - that means you, Chin and Kono come round mine for steaks and beers.”

“Like we don’t do that every other night,” Danny said matter-of-factly. “Can’t anyway. Made other plans.”

“Oh?” piped Kono “Hot date?”

 Steve’s heart sank ‘ _say no’_.

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Look, I won’t be available tonight or for the rest of the weekend so don’t bother trying to contact me unless it’s very, very important,” warned Danny with a smile. Steve’s heart sank lower ‘ _he does have a date.’_

“This is a very long date,” stated Kono. “Is this why you were late and Steve had to come in his truck this morning: because you were buying breakfast for tomorrow and making sure the _‘love nest’_ was ready?” Steve felt sick. He should have seen this coming. He had waited too long to make his move and now it was too late.

Danny rolled his eyes _again._ “One. No. I was late because I overslept and then she calls to ask if she could come over tonight instead of tomorrow morning which I said yes—”

“So it is a date.”

Ignoring Kono, Danny continued. “Two. Please don’t call my apartment the _‘love nest’_. Three. Say what you will, jump to whatever conclusion you want, I’ll reveal nothing.” Steve and Kono snorted, where as Chin just stood, arms crossed, looking at Danny like he could see right through the game he was playing. “AND Four! If you don’t let me go now she’ll kill me for picking her up late and I won’t be able to bring her here on Monday.” Danny looked down at his watch, he really needed to go.

“You’re bringing her here?”

“WHO IS SHE?”

“Must be serious if you want her to meet us...”

Danny let out a sigh pointing to each person in turn and said “Yes, I’m bringing her here to meet even the crazy SEAL because she has heard a lot about you and, for some insane reason, wants to meet you. It is serious and she means a lot to me but not in the way you think. And for who she is that’s... classified.”

Steve was pretty sure Danny had said that all in one breath and he didn’t really acknowledge his words or that he had left until he saw both Chin and Kono turn and give him a sympathetic look. He knew why. It wasn’t a secret Steve liked Danny. They had flirted enough and practically the whole island thought they were married but it seemed it was all for show and one sided. Steve shrugged. “Classified? What does he mean by that? He can’t say that and then walk out.”

“Dunno, brah. You say it whenever he asks you about something to do with one of your missions so why can’t he say it?” answered Chin as he closed down the file he’s been looking at - whereas Kono went up to Steve and placed her hand on his arm.

“Hey boss, you okay?”

“What? Yeah of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Kono gave him a look “So what if he has a date? Just means all the more beers and steak for us.” Neither Chin nor Kono looked convinced but they let it go, tidied up and went over to Steve’s house.

_**000** _

Although they had plenty to talk and laugh about, the evening still wasn’t the same without the loud, over the top, Jersey cop ranting at Steve. It was even more wrong when the cousins went home and Steve was left in his big, empty house with no Danny to have a few more beers with making him too drunk to drive home. Steve had resisted the urge to call so many times he’d lost count. Every time he picked up the phone he could hear the little Danny voice in his head, telling him how normal people don’t call their partners when said partners are on a date.

 _‘It’s serious.’_ If it was serious how come Danny hadn’t said anything? _‘She means a lot to me.’_ That surprised Steve. For all he knew, Danny was still in love with Rachel: even more over the past few weeks as they were becoming closer and fought less. _‘But not in that way.’_ How can it not be that way? The way he smiled when he was talking about her and not calling on the weekend. What other way could it be? _‘Classified.’_   Steve could now see why Danny found that annoying when he said it. But Steve said it because he _couldn’t_ talk about missions even if he was allowed. However, Danny said it because he didn’t want to talk about _some_ women he was dating? Did he really see Steve as some emotionally deprived person? Or was he trying to save Steve from a broken heart, knowing he liked Danny?

“ARGH!” Steve’s head hurt. He was trained to read people and have more answers than questions but when it came to Danny? Steve drew a blank.

Putting down the phone for what felt like the 100th time, Steve quickly tidied up the kitchen and went to bed.

**_000_ **

The whole night he couldn’t sleep, couldn’t stop his mind wondering to what Danny and _that_ women must be doing. Oh how Steve wished he was the one being touched by those over expressive hands. The look of surprise on Danny’s face as Steve turned them over, trailing hot wet kisses down his torso. Steve let out a groan and finally gave in, slipping a hand under the covers to his aching cock.

This was so wrong in so many ways: he was Danny’s boss but here he was jerking off to his very straight partner, best friend, and one member of his Ohana who had been taken (most likely) by another British brunette. Sighing Danny’s name as he came, Steve removed his hand from his sweatpants, took them completely off and got up to go into the bathroom and clean up.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Steve thought over a few things. Danny had seemed to be happier the closer Friday came. However, when Chin mentioned what the date was going to be on Saturday and that Steve and Danny were invited to the birthday BBQ for his and Kono’s aunt, Danny went quiet with a sad smile on his face and Steve was pretty sure he saw a tear in his eye. What was going on there? A quiet Danny was never a good Danny. If he was angry or upset you would know about it along with the rest of the island; but a quiet Danny? It showed that whatever had hurt him hit low and deep in his heart causing him to keep it bottled up inside until Steve could force it out with beers. Sure Danny wasn’t big on beach BBQs or big family get-togethers because it reminded him too much of his own family (who he couldn’t see whenever he wanted) but would he hate them so much - even if it was for Chin and Kono - that it would produce a tear? Maybe he was crying because he _couldn’t_ go because of this ‘date’ but why would he be upset if he had a date? One Steve knew nothing about...

Steve groaned in frustration, he had only himself to blame. He couldn’t blame _Danny_ for not knowing how Steve felt about him or that his sexual interests didn’t just lie with women. Hell, Danny probably thought he was still dating Catt! That was true until a month ago when they both came clean about finding someone else and went back to being friends without the benefits. Well, Catt had found someone else whilst Steve was acting like a teenage girl going crazy on their first crush.

Wandering back into his room, Steve looked at the clock: 3:30AM. He flopped back into bed and gradually fell into a restless sleep, dreaming about Danny and the mysterious women.


	2. Chapter 2

_'_ _Ok'_ thought Steve the following afternoon. He'd spent the whole morning cleaning the house after spending an hour swimming and half an hour running trying to clear his head of Danny and his date. But of course it didn't work and Steve couldn't take it anymore. _'She must be gone by now'_ thought Steve as he picked up the phone. _'Maybe he has Grace or just needs some alone time... We do practically live in each other's pockets, maybe he needs some space. If that's true then she definitely won't be there,'_ Steve pondered as he dialled Danny's number - so you can't really blame him when the other end picked up and he said "Hey, Gracie! Is Danno around?" after a female voice came over the phone. "Uh...Last time I checked my name wasn't 'Gracie'."

Steve couldn't speak, that wasn't Grace's voice, the voice sounded much older. It must be Danny's date. Steve felt sick. It must be serious if she was still there the following afternoon. "As for 'Danno'?" the voice continued as if they knew each other and Steve wasn't having a mental breakdown. "He's a bit preoccupied with his hands to pick up the phone." She sniggered along with a groan and a string of mutters in the background. Steve looked down at his watch - 2:30pm - was it too early to start drinking? Because he was going to need more than one if he'd interrupted what he thought he was interrupting. Before he could say sorry and that he would call back later, Steve heard a low 'here, let me do it' away from the phone and Danny's voice replaced the women's with an annoyed "Hello Steven."

"Uh, hey, Danno," He replied whilst scratching the back of his neck, "how'd you know it was me?"

"Well seeing that you used the words 'Gracie' and 'Danno' in your greeting and the only other two people who use those nicknames are either standing in front of me or with their mother so, ergo, it must be you calling."

"Ergo?" Steve asked trying to lighten the feeling in the pit of his stomach _. 'She has a nickname for Grace which would mean they've met... more than once.'_ Judging from the sigh Danny gave, it didn't work. Steve cringed as he continued "look I know you said not to call—"

"You're damn right I said not to call! And normal people would follow their friend's requests but then again you're not normal so I really shouldn't be that surprised."

"Danno" Steve sighed "I'm sorry, I thought by now your date must be gone from your shitty apartment and that you would want to meet up and do something."

"Look, I told you guys yesterday it's not like that. She happens to really like my apartment." Steve snorted "No I can't meet up and do 'something' with you Steve as I indicated yesterday I was busy the whole weekend. I have to go; I'll see you on Monday. Goodbye." As Danny hung up the phone, he looked down to see the tie that was hanging around his neck now tied perfectly. Danny let out a sigh "Thanks."

"So 'Danno' huh?"

"Yes, I know. Suck it up. I've told him not to call me that 'cause that's Gracie's nickname but he just ignored me," Said Danny as he walked to the kitchen sink. "It's nothing."

"Doesn't sound like 'nothing'. I saw the way your eyes lit up when you realised it was him on the phone. Don't try to deny it, you like him don't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Said Danny, refusing to turn around as he knew his red face would give him away.

"Oh I bet you do. Is he hot? You said he's a Navy SEAL right? So he must be - with tattoos and _LOTS_ of muscles. OH MY GOD! Does he have a six pac?" Danny rolled his eyes and turned round to face her.

"Yes, he does have a six pac and tattoos and I can see how some people _might_ find him _attractive_ but NO I do _NOT_ think he's hot." _'Who are you trying to kid? Of course you think that crazy man is hot but she doesn't have to know that.'_ Putting her hands on her hips, she stared right at Danny and said "Come on, he's all you ever talk about when you're not talking about Grace and she talks about the days out the three of you have together, how much fun you have and already planning the next trip. She loves her Uncle Steve...and I think you do to."

"What do you want me to say?" asked Danny, throwing his hands up in the air. "That, yes, for some insane reason I think that my crazy Neanderthal of a partner is hot? That I care about him so much I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to him? That every time he smiles at me I want to kiss him senseless?"

"Well something along those lines, yeah."

"Argh! Look, even if those things were true nothing can ever happen between us. He's straight plus has a girlfriend and I don't think I could risk my heart being broken again, to lose the best partner and friend I've had in a long time. I'd rather he stayed oblivious to my feelings than for me to lose him." Danny looked down at his shoes not wanting to see the pity, which he knew would be there, in her eyes and felt the warm embrace of a hug. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset, I know you're being cautious and don't want to break your heart because of previous people in your life but if you don't tell him it's going to kill you inside and your heart is still going to break when Steve finds someone to settle down with."

Danny sighed "I know. God I hate it when you're right." Moving out of her arms, Danny turned back round to the sink and picked up the bunch of Gardenia flowers that were sitting in the water. "You ready to go?" He asked, passing half the flowers over. Taking them in one hand, she smoothed her black dress down with the other and smiled sadly, nodding in agreement. "Let's go." Said Danny, opening the door to his apartment, locking it behind them both and taking her hand to walk down to the Camaro.


	3. Chapter 3

Steve couldn't sit still; he was the first one in on Monday morning, only just managing not to jump up from his chair and running into the bullpen when Chin and Kono came in. ' _I haven't had a single cup of coffee and yet it feels like I've had five. I need to calm down. Today is just going to be like any other day. It's just Danno and his girlfriend, just the man I have the BIGGEST crush on and the girl he's dating who I didn't know about. Yep, a totally normal day.'_

Steve groaned and put his head on the table with a thud. He sighed, how was this his life? He needed to talk to someone. Mary, Kono, Catt and Kamekona were out and _NO_ way could he speak to Danny, which just left Chin. Steve really didn't want to talk to anyone, but Chin was cool, calm, understanding and, above all, wouldn't judge him – he was Steve's best bet.

Sitting up and looking out into the bullpen, Steve could see both Chin and Kono were looking at something on the computer table. Sighing again, Steve got up and walked into the bullpen, he _needed_ to talk to Chin alone. Looks like he was going to risk mentioning it with Kono around. Walking over to the cousins, Steve lent his hip against the table and opened his mouth when the unmissable sound that was a Danny rant could be heard coming down the corridor.

"And another thing how can you tell me off about eating malasadas, when you had them for breakfast?" said Danny, opening the glass doors for him and a young tanned blonde who looked barely 18. He had an arm around her shoulder as she laughed, patted his stomach and said "Yeah, but D I don't need to watch my weight." This caused her to laugh harder when Danny made a noise of protest. ' _D? Oh sure, it's okay for her to call him a nickname but when Steve started to call him 'Danno' all hell broke loose._ ' Chin quickly cleared his throat when it looked like Danny was setting up for another rant. Instead, he smiled, pulling her closer to him and said "Em, this is Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua and the big lug over there is Steve McGarrett." He pointed to each team member in turn.

Kono gave her a big smile and waved, Chin gave a small smile while Steve just glared. This 'Em' was quite pretty with ocean blue eyes, shoulder length hair and a bright smile. She could pass for Danny's daughter if it wasn't for the fact that she was several inches taller than him and the colour of her skin was too dark to be from a weekend tan. Her age puzzled Steve; he didn't know the age difference between Danny and Rachel but Danny came across as someone who cared about these things and wouldn't date someone who could pass as his daughter.

"And this," Danny continued turning his head to smile at her "is Emily Hartell. She's my—" But before Danny could finish, Emily, who been staring at Steve since being told who he was, stepped out from under Danny's arm, pointed a finger at him, turned her head back to Danny and said "Oh my God! How can you say those things to me on Saturday when he looks like _that_?" Fear and anger flashed in Danny's eyes before his expression turned to one of annoyance, "Maybe there's a reason why I said those things." Emily immediately put her arm down and went back over to him. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like talking about it."

"Uh? What do I look like?" asked Steve at the same time as Kono asked "Talk about what?"

"It's nothing okay?" Danny sighed as Emily gave him a worried look.

"You're in a room full of detectives, who are all curious as to whom this girl is, seeing that, on Friday, you pointed out several times she wasn't your date. Do you really think we're going to leave at nothing?" stated Chin.

"You haven't told them what happened? Or who I am?" the worry was evident in Emily's voice; she knew Danny didn't like to talk about it but the way he talked about the team seemed to show he trusted them enough that he could and it wouldn't affect them. He didn't tell them who she was either. That still hurt even though she was used to it. Clearly Emily was wrong. "No, because if I told them who you are I would have to explain everything and I just _can't_...not yet. But you wanted to meet these crazy people so badly how could I not take a risk and say yes?" Turning Emily around and pushing her towards his office, Danny said "Now go sit your ass down, while I try and stop what you started." Emily walked towards his office, turning her head back to mouth 'sorry' at Danny who smiled back, showing that he wasn't really mad at her. He knew this day would come and turned back to face three concerned faces. "Danno? Is there something you need to tell us?" asked Steve, walking over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"No, it's all in the past and, like I said on Friday, it's classified."

"Classified? Really Danno? You can't just act like that and then refuse to talk about it."

"Oh really?" asked Danny with anger building up inside him, brushing off Steve's hand, "it's not like you haven't used it before or refused to talk about things."

"Look Danno that's—"

"No don't you _dare_ say that's different!" shouted Danny, taking a deep breath before he continued. "Steve you heard what Emily said: I don't like to talk about it and I _can't_ even if I wanted to. It's in the past. Can we please just drop it and do what we're paid to do – _work_?" Walking towards his office, Danny stopped "And if you really can't let it go, well you're detectives, you could work it out - who Emily is and what she was going on about because, for the last time, she isn't my girlfriend!" And with that Danny walked into his office, wishing the glass doors could slam, and sat down at his desk, leaving the remaining three in the bullpen, each one wearing a shocked expression on their face. Steve was the first to snap back to reality. "Well," he said clearing his throat, "you heard what Danny said lets...uh...get back to work."

"But Boss what about this thing going on with him and Emily? If you want, Chin and I could do some digging, look through some files from the New Jersey police department, see if they know anything and find out who she is?" Steve shook his head and looked through the glass into Danny's office to see Emily standing behind Danny's chair, arms around his shoulders, smiling and saying something causing him to laugh. Steve's heart ached at the look on Danny's face. The look of pure happiness that only Grace seemed to bring out and Steve hoped, one day, he could too. But it looked like someone beat him to it. "No," Steve sighed. "If Danny can't tell us himself then I don't want him thinking he can't trust us if we go snooping for ourselves. I for one don't want to lose his trust."

Chin made a noise of approval and headed to his office. Kono sent a worried look Danny's way before heading to her own. Steve stood there for a few moments, thoughts running through his head. Something bad had clearly happened to Danny in the past if he had managed to keep quiet about it for so long, the fear and anger was so raw in his eyes. If Steve didn't know about it, it suggested that whatever happened in the past happened in New Jersey but how could Emily know?

The way she looked showed that although her parents weren't from Hawaii she had been living here for several years. Family friend who visited a lot? Or just family (as she did look a little like Danny). Cousin maybe? Niece? Danny hadn't made any suggestion that he knew any one in Hawaii or that he had family over here before Grace. Maybe she lives on one of the other islands? But wouldn't have Danny been over the moon and not stop talking about her coming to stay like he had been with Matt? Although it didn't end well that's no reason for him not to introduce Emily to the team sooner. As she had been staying for quite a while if she had heard a lot about 5-0 from Danny. Steve shrugged inwardly, heading to his own office and mound of paperwork. No matter what, he was going to find out the truth. Giving his heart a little hope to think that maybe he wasn't too late and once he did find the truth between Danny and Emily's relationship he was finally going to make his move.


	4. Chapter 4

As much as he tried doing his paper work, Steve couldn't help but look up and watch Danny and Emily through the glass. They seemed to joke and laugh a lot, throwing paper balls at each other's head while the other was busy with something, just to past the time. _'_ _So much for work,'_ thought Steve.

Although it clearly pained him to watch a part of Danny's life he knew nothing about, Steve couldn't help but smile at the familiar interaction between the two. A clear example was when no sooner had Emily hung up the phone after clearly what was a distressing phone call than Danny pulled her into a tight embrace for several minutes.

 _**000** _

It was around lunch time when Chin popped his head into Steve's office and said "We have a case," then headed back to the computer table and Kono.

"What have we got?" Steve asked joining the cousins.

"HPD have been dealing with three homicides, the latest one happening early this morning." Replied Chin as he brought up the victims' profiles on the monitors. Each man was in his early 30s, with dirty blonde hair, dressed in business attire suggesting that they were here for work and not pleasure. Looking back at the computer table, Steve could see the photos from each crime scene and of each body. Each man had been brutally beaten before being strangled and left tied to a bed. "Ok? So why has it been passed onto us?"

"The last victim, David Walker, was a business associate with the Governor," said Kono typing something into the table to bring up the last few deals that took place between the two. "There doesn't seem to be any connection between the three men apart from the fact that they look similar and come from the East Coast." She continued. "They are all single and work in high end jobs but vic. one lives in Brooklyn, vic. number two lives in Newark and Mr Walker lives in Trenton. Nothing suggests that their paths have ever crossed."

"Have we got any evidence that leads to a suspect?" asked Steve only just noticing that Danny wasn't next to him. But, before he could act on it, Chin responded with "Not from the first two crime scenes though they found half a bloody finger print at the last - which belongs to this guy." Chin put up another photo up on the monitor.

Just like the victims he was in his early 30s. However, he was sporting jet-black hair and a frighteningly pale complexion.

"His name is Joshua Anderson," said Chin as Danny and Emily walked out of his office.

"Guys we're going to go get something to eat did you-" Danny stopped midsentence when he saw the photo on the screen. "Do we have a case?" he asked instead, hoping the others hadn't noticed his stumble. Judging by the looks Steve and Emily were giving him, they had noticed.

"Three homicides, Joshua Anderson's print was found at the last scene." Chin said bringing Danny up to speed. "Went to jail for 15 years at 18 for the rape and murder of a 16 year old girl; he is also know to have quite a temper and has been thrown out of many bars by the police after starting fights."

"And domestic violence," whispered Danny looking down at his shoes. All four heads turned to look at him.

"It doesn't say anything about that in his record." Chin stated, giving the record a quick read over to double check.

"Well it wouldn't," Danny said looking up at the confused, concerned faces "I didn't report it."

"He's the one who did that to you isn't he?" asked Emily, gently placing a hand on Danny's arm, who looked at her and gave a little nod.

"Danny?" said Steve, taking a step towards him. "What are you talking about? How do you know this man?"

"Let's just say first impressions don't mean everything." Emily gently squeezed his arm and glared at Steve when he asked "What did he do to you?" Instead of answering his questions, Danny seemingly pulled himself, trying to hide the hurt in his eyes and asked Chin "Do we have a place to go to so we can question him?" The three team members seemed taken back at how quickly Danny could bounce back from looking ten times smaller since seeing the photo of Anderson. Emily just stood next to him, a protective, worried look in her eye, all four noticing that Danny refused to make eye contact with any of them. "Uh yeah" replied Kono writing an address down on a piece of paper, "he's rented a holiday home, with his credit card, on the North Shore."

"Come on Super SEAL," said Danny as he grabbed the piece of paper from Kono and headed to the main doors. Before Steve could ask what the hell was going on he felt a hand on his elbow and looked to see Emily staring at him.

"Please look after him, I know he hasn't told you what happened and you would like to know but all you need to understand, right now, is this man hurt Danny deeply. Don't make him do it again." The plea left Steve shocked and a whole new level of anger for Anderson rose in the pit of his stomach. This man had hurt his Danno in the past and was killing innocent men on his island; he was going to be lucky if he only got broken bones. "I promise," replied Steve, giving her hand a quick squeeze before running off after Danny. Kono waited for Emily to go back into Danny's office before turning to her cousin and asking "What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know cuz, there seems to be a lot about our Jersey detective we don't know about."


	5. Chapter 5

It was way _too_ quiet for it to be Danny in the car beside him. He made no protest when Steve said he was driving - just got in the passenger's side seat and stared out the window. He refused to rise to the bait even when Steve talked about getting ham and pineapple pizza after. Danny knew why. He knew he was being too quiet and had freaked out the team back at HQ but he still couldn't speak knowing his voice would give him up and tell Steve he was scared shitless. He wasn't allowed to talk about it and he couldn't. Only Emily seemed to understand, knowing what to say when his own voice let him down.

He couldn't help but allow a small part of his brain to blame Emily for all this. If he hadn't brought her to work none of this would have happened. The more logical side of his brain argued they still would have gotten the case with or without Emily... Danny sighed, his day was going downhill and it was only going to get worse.

Steve slowly pulled up to the house, giving it a quick once over to see if he could see Anderson. The house was made of crisp white wooden panels, with steps leading up to a screen - which was open - and a green door which matched the windows. Not seeing any signs of danger both men got out of the car and went round to the boot. Steve waited for the expected rant he knew was coming from Danny about if the tac vest and extra clip were really necessary and shouldn't they call for back up if they had to reach for those things. But, no, he just grabbed his own vest and extra clip, put the vest on and checked his gun. Steve was about to say 'let's go' when Danny spoke for the first time since leaving HQ.

"Look I know you don't ever listen to me when I talk about being careful and going by the book but please listen to me now when I say that, although we've seen what Anderson can do, he's unpredictable and can do a lot worse if he wants too. Trust me, I know." And with that he silently closed the car boot and started to walk towards the house. Steve felt sick, Danny's eyes were so full of pain and anger. This case was clearly bringing back horrible memories of the past for Danny. Steve had seen the photos of the victims and could only imagine what they went through and to think that something like that happened to Danny? Steve suppressed a shiver _'what the hell did he do to you?'_

Steve walked up the steps first, protective instinct kicking in and banged on the door "Joshua Anderson? 5-0, we're here to ask you some questions. Open up." Steve waited about 30 seconds for an answer before kicking open the door. Despite all that was going on, Danny couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing, just be careful." Danny replied, keeping his gun up and walking through the door with Steve following close behind. They split when they entered the living slash dining room area. Danny went on to check the kitchen while Steve went off to the right to check in the bathroom and bedroom. Danny looked around the small room. It was simple with off-white cupboards and wooden tops and a backdoor leading out to a lanai and garden. Nothing indicated that Anderson had been here apart from a full mug of coffee, sitting on the counter top, with steam coming rising from it.

"Hey Danny?" he heard Steve call out from one of the other rooms. Placing his gun back in its holster and pushing down the uneasiness in his stomach that something wasn't right, Danny left the kitchen to find Steve. All of Danny's focus was on the double bed where the body of their fourth victim lay. He looked exactly like the first three apart from the several whip lashes that joined the bruises forming on his torso.

 _'You were with her again, weren't you?'_ Danny couldn't breathe as the wave of memories he thought he'd locked away came flooding back. He had been in that position so many times, each time coming out alive but not without a price. _'Don't lie to me you worthless piece of shit.'_ Danny was only vaguely aware that Steve was talking to him or on the phone – something about being a few minutes too late, he didn't know. He was no longer in Hawaii. Seeing the man on the bed took his mind back to a dingy one bedroom apartment in New Jersey. It was a year ago, a place he thought he had escaped.

 _'You're such a little whore, thinking anymore would want to be with you.' *Punch* 'Sad, useless excuse of a cop, trying to save people when you can't even save your own marriage.' *Punch*_ Danny slumped against the doorframe, feeling every hit, his mind replaying the painful memories, trying to tell him to fight back and not to listen to what Josh was saying because that wasn't who he was.

Memories of a previous attack reminded him why he didn't fight back: he didn't want to spend another week in hospital. _'She doesn't love you. Nobody does. Not even your own precious little family. They all hate what you are. They're all leaving you, you should be thankful that I'm taking up my time to be with you - you weak, worthless, desperate little nobody.' *Punch*_

Danny tried pushing the memories back in his mind, tried bringing it back to the present with Steve talking on the phone. But his mind kept replaying hit after hit, truth after every painful truth. A movement behind caught his eye and as he turned around, his breath caught in his throat. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen was the main reason he had these painful memories in the first place. Joshua Anderson.

Danny tried to reach for his gun but his arms wouldn't work, nor would his voice as he tried to call out to Steve. No, he just stood there, watching Anderson bring up a gun, aim, and then he felt the pain of two bullets hit his vest and one skim his left arm. As he slid down the doorframe, Danny saw Steve return fire, chase after Anderson and then nothing but blackness.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny slowly opened his eyes to find Steve walking back towards him with a mixture of worried and annoyed face on. "He got away. Are you ok?" he asked as he knelt down in front of Danny.

"Uh I think so." He replied, trying to sit up and hold onto his left arm to stop the little trickle of blood. "It's just a scratch." He continued when he noticed Steve eyeing his arm.

"Doesn't look like one. Look, you just need to sit here and not move. Chin and Kono are on their way with HPD and an ambulance." Danny suppressed a sigh. He should be happy that Steve had called for backup _'better late than never'_ instead of turning into Rambo and chasing Anderson through the jungle - but he wasn't.

"Steven," he said as he got up, swaying a little and waving Steve off when he tried to help. "I'm fine ok? I haven't got a concussion if that's what you're worried about. I just...I don't know, fainted from the shock of seeing Josh. I'm perfectly capable of walking outside and waiting for Chin and Kono." And with that he pushed past Steve and walked out the front door to the Camaro. Steve could only follow, Danny was being his usual stubborn self. At least he wasn't blaming him for what happened.

"This is your fault by the way."

Steve sighed, then again...

"How is this _my_ fault? You're the one who checked the kitchen and the one who has a history with him, not me." Steve said - arms folded across his chest. The words just seemed to slip out of his mouth and he wanted to kick himself when he saw Danny give up on the rant he was building and deflate back into himself. But Steve wasn't backing down. He was seriously worried about Danny. Anderson had shot him whilst he just stood there and did nothing, didn't even call out to Steve. Contrary to popular belief he doesn't have super senses and had no idea Anderson had come back, he only knew from the gunshots.

Anderson could've taken Danny out and Steve wouldn't have noticed. That's what scared him the most - how much hold Anderson seemed to have on Danny by just being there.

"Yeah, well, despite what you might think you don't know everything about my life and you don't need to," Danny said quietly. "It's none of your business."

' _But I want to make it my business.'_ Steve screamed in his head. Before he could voice his thoughts, Chin and Kono pulled up the drive followed by an ambulance and a couple of police cars. Steve walked over to the cousins to get them up to speed so they could lock down and start processing the scene. Danny pushed away the paramedic that was trying to get him to take his shirt off to check Danny's arm. He was not taking his shirt off, thank you very much, he couldn't risk it.

Walking up to the others he could see the worry on the cousins' faces and knew without asking that Steve had told them what happened. Danny sighed and gave Steve a very annoyed look

"Look I don't need you to look at my arm, its fine!" he said, wincing when he moved it quickly away from the paramedic.

"Seriously, Danno? The first time I supposedly got you shot in the arm, you mouthed off at me then punched me in the face–"

"After you tried to break my arm behind my back..." _'And only then did I need to take one sleeve off.'_

"And you've been shot in the chest twice, you need to be checked for bruising and your arm needs to be cleaned and stitched up," Steve finished, not showing acknowledgement for Danny's comment.

"Fine! Fine!" Danny said angrily, wincing again as he moved his arms around "You can look but it's a waste of time - nothing a few painkillers can't fix." He muttered to the paramedic as he got rid of the vest, tie, shirt and tee shirt, throwing each item at a team member and turning back to the ME.

Danny was so annoyed that he forgot the exact reason why he never showed his back in public until he heard three sharp intakes of breath from the very people he least wanted to see his back. Danny tried to turn around to hide what was a vivid reminder of what he went through the year before but, it was too late. The damage was already done. That and the fact the ME wasn't letting go of Danny's arm now he had it.

"Danny." Steve said in an almost whisper as he stepped forward, lifting his hand as if to trace the pale belt buckle scars that ran across Danny's back.

"Steve, don't." Danny sighed, turning around to put his clothes - passed to him with worried looks - back on after the paramedic said he was finished. "Please. Just don't. Leave it alone."

"Leave it alone? How the hell can we leave it alone?" hissed Steve in a low voice so he didn't catch the attention of the nearby officers. "Danno, you clearly have a history with Anderson. When you saw his picture you went quiet and you wouldn't talk to me in the car. You didn't do anything when you saw him in the house, just stood there and let him _shoot you!_ AND you have scars across your back - no guessing where they came from. How can we leave it when all of that has happened? You need to tell us what's going on."

Danny wanted to tell them. He did! So badly... But once they found out the truth, that he was weak, that he couldn't stand up to Josh, they would turn up their noses in disgust and walk away. He couldn't lose them; if he did he didn't think he could handle the heartbreak. Instead he just put his clothes on, grabbed his vest from Kono and walked over to the Camaro and got in the passenger's side.

' _This man hurt Danny deeply, don't make him do it again.'_ Emily's plea ran through Steve's head. He had broken the promise. How could he be with Danny if he couldn't watch his back and keep him safe? Steve could see the physical damage Emily had mentioned but a small part of his brain couldn't help but wonder what psychological damage Anderson had inflicted upon Danny.

 _**000** _

Danny stayed in the car for the remainder of the time it took to process the crime scene, keeping his head down and refusing to meet anyone's eye. Steve could tell from the looks the cousins were giving him that it was up to him to try and speak to Danny. Steve sighed as he got in the car, looking over at Danny who didn't even acknowledge his presence. "Danno," he started but Danny just held up a hand.

"Please don't." He said. Steve closed his mouth when Danny finally met his stare.

"I'm not asking you as a partner, I'm asking you as a friend to please trust me and leave it alone." Steve felt conflicted. He really did want to trust Danny, to obey his plea to leave it alone but another part of him wanted to ignore the request, pull Danny into a tight embrace and declare he was going to make Anderson pay for what he did. Instead he gave a slight nod before starting up the car and headed back to HQ with Chin and Kono following close behind.

 **_000_ **

Emily couldn't stop pacing; it was an understatement that she was worried. She was sitting in Danny's office when Chin got the call and she knew instantly that something had happened to Danny. She didn't get a chance to ask what before Chine and Kono grabbed their stuff and ran out of the bullpen. She knew it wasn't serious, they would have told her otherwise. But, then again, why would they? It's not like they really knew who she was.

Emily looked up when she heard the main doors opening and heard Steve saying it was ok and Danny could speak to him when he was ready. Emily zoned out on everything apart from the hole and the blood that was on Danny's sleeve.

"Dad!" she called out running over to hug him tightly, pausing in her movements when she noticed his bandaged arm, she embraced him tentatively.

"DAD?" Three voices chorus together. Ignoring the pain in his arm, Danny hugged Emily back. It gave him the comfort he needed in the simple gesture. Danny sighed as he pulled away, squeezing Emily's hand when it slipped into his – he wasn't the only one who needed the reassurance that he was ok.

"Yes. Dad. That's normally what you call the person who's the father figure in your life. I was trying to tell you this morning but we got distracted and then this thing with Josh happened," Danny replied, taking in the three shocked faces. "Now if you don't mind I have to take my daughter back to her aunt's" and with that he walked out with Emily close behind.

 _**000** _

They sat in awkward silence as Danny drove Emily home. She wanted to say something but didn't know what. She knew Danny wasn't happy that she had called him dad in front of the others before he had a chance to explain, but Danny couldn't blame her. Although Emily had her aunt and uncle, Danny was really the only family she had left after her mother died and she didn't think she could stand the thought of losing him too.

After pulling up to the house, they sat there for several minutes before Emily brought up the courage to speak. "Look dad, I'm sorry." She said - head down, not wanting to meet his intent look. "Sorry? What should you be sorry about?" Danny asked in disbelief.

"Because I called you dad. I know it still hurts when you talk about mum and you find it hard to explain who I am because of that."

"Emily, yes even now it still hurts but you have nothing to be ashamed of in calling me your father. I love you and I'm not mad at you. You have nothing to be sorry for. It should be me who should be doing the apologising." Emily looked up at her father.

"I know I was just so worried about you and when I saw the blood... I couldn't help it."

"Shh" Danny said pulling Emily into a hug to try and calm her down to stop the tears that were threatening to fall.

"It was him who shot you wasn't it," Emily asked a moment later. Danny didn't need to reply. His body tensing was the only confirmation she needed. She pulled back a little to talk to his face "You've got to tell them." She held up her hand when Danny opened his mouth to protest.

"No, they have a right to know; you can't keep running and hiding from this. The fact that he's found you proves that and in the process is killing innocent men. The team will listen to you and will still be there, I've seen the way your face lights up when you talk about them. They're your Ohana; they'll stick by you and won't leave you like other people have in your life because that's what family does. You didn't leave me when mum died and I believe they'll do the same." Danny couldn't argue, he knew Emily was right but he still couldn't help worrying. "Dad please talk to them, they looked so worried. Especially Steve." Before Danny could answer the front door of the house opened.

"Emily Hartell! You better get your ass in this house right now, young lady. I already told you this morning how much trouble you're in. Don't make me tell you again." Emily cringed at the sound of her aunt's voice who was a little bit more than annoyed.

"You better get inside before she comes out and blames me for being a bad influence." Danny said with an amused hint in his voice.

"You could never be a bad influence on me D." Emily replied with a smile, giving Danny a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. "I love you and please think about what I've said."

"I love you too, Em." Danny replied before Emily got out the car.

 **_000_ **

Steve couldn't stop his mind from replaying the events of the day - the most vivid being the scars across Danny's back. Although they weren't recent they couldn't be more than a year old. How anyone could do that to someone was beyond Steve. The fact that Anderson could do it to Danny, with a character like his, meant he had a big hold on Danny and got to him when he was low.

There was another thing that bothered Steve after Danny had left with Emily; Chin had mentioned that Danny had referred to Anderson as Josh. And now that Steve was thinking about it that wasn't the first time either. This could end badly if Danny was still seeing himself in an intimate relationship with Anderson. A knock on the door brought Steve out of his thoughts and when he opened it he was slightly surprised to find Danny standing there – he never knocks, just wonders in like he owns the place. But right now he looked a bit unsure of himself

"Can I come in?" he asked. Steve crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" he countered back.

"Why do you think I brought beer?" Danny said, lifting up his uninjured arm to show the six pack of longboards. Steve pushed off the doorframe and opened it wider for Danny to walk in.

"I'm a little surprised you're here. You gave the impression you didn't want to talk." Steve stated as he closed the door.

"Yeah well I had a talk with someone who changed my mind."

"Emily?" asked Steve, accepting a beer from Danny and joining him on the sofa. Danny huffed a laugh.

"Yeah and, before you ask, one thing at a time ok?" Steve kept quiet, there were so many questions he wanted to ask about Anderson and Emily but seeing that Danny was avoiding his eye and almost through his first beer Steve had to be thankful he was here in the first place and be patient. Something the McGarretts weren't known to be.

They sat there in silence while Danny tried to find courage through his second beer while Steve just sat there looking at him waiting. Danny couldn't take it; if he was going to tell Steve the truth then he needed to know at least once what his lips felt like against his before Steve rejected him.

Taking one last swig of his beer, Danny placed it on the table next to Steve's. Taking a deep breath he slowly moved towards Steve and placed his mouth over Steve's.

Steve sat there in shock. Danny was kissing him! He couldn't believe it. He never allowed himself to wish Danny would return his feelings, he felt so happy. Pushing all thoughts of the day to the back of his mind, Steve closed his eyes and started to respond to the kiss, not wanting to give Danny the wrong impression that he wasn't interested. He allowed himself to touch by slowly moving one hand up Danny's thigh while the other went to the back of Danny's neck to deepen the kiss. Danny felt Steve respond but he was no longer in Steve's gently arms. The hold on him was rougher, the kiss more violent. Slowly Danny realised his mind was no longer with Steve and that was when he felt the first hit.

' _You were with her again weren't you?' Josh shouted standing over Danny, who was holding his cheek. Danny tried to stand and move away but Josh kept following until he was backed up against the bedroom door. 'No Josh why would I? She hates me. I called you at lunch to say I was going to finish work late today.'_

' _Don't lie to me you worthless piece of shit.' Josh spat, his face inches from Danny's 'You're such a little whore, thinking anyone would want to be with you.' A fist replaced Josh's face 'Sad, useless excuse of a cop, trying to save people when you can't even save your own marriage.' A punch to the stomach would of had Danny bent over but Josh was holding him up with a fistful of his hair. 'She doesn't love you, nobody does. Not even your own precious little family; they all hate what you are. They're all leaving you. You should be thankful that I'm taking the time to be with you. You weak, worthless, desperate, little nobody.'_

As the last punch came, Danny pushed away from Steve and got up off the sofa.

"No! Get off me, I'm sorry." Steve opened his eyes, confused at why Danny had stop kissing and was a little taken back at the horror and fear that was across Danny's face. He got up and moved over to where Danny was standing and gently placed a hand on his arm.

"Danno?" Danny flinched away from the touch.

"Please don't hit me. I wasn't lying, Josh. I'm sorry." He pleaded, keeping his face away from Steve. Steve frowned.

"Josh? Danno I'm not –" but before he could finish Danny ran out the house. Steve tried to follow but was greeted with the tail lights of the Camaro going down the street. "Damn it!" Steve cursed before turning back into the house to grab his truck keys.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry for the long wait for an update but here is chapter seven! Cos of the time of year it probs wont be until the new year for chapter eight to be up sorry :( but I have started it :) so it might be sooner. I know many people have been wondering who Josh is, hope my idea lives up to it. Hope everyone has a good Christmas and New Year! Enjoy! x

Steve tried to focus on what Kono was saying the following morning, about what they had found at the last crime scene, but his mind kept going to the night before. He had spent most of it searching for Danny: going to his apartment first knowing he probably wouldn't be there but he had to check; he tried Rachel's next with no luck; then drove by Chin and Kono's to see if the Camaro was in either of their drives. He didn't call them - not wanting them to worry - but their faces showed that they were anyway when they arrived to find Danny's office empty and the Jersey cop nowhere to be seen.

"Probably just late." Steve had said. The cousins didn't believe it but they let it slide. Steve had tried everywhere, even the beach! He must have called Danny's phone a thousand times, hoping he had turned it back on and it wouldn't go straight to voice mail. Every try he just got Danny asking to leave a message.

And Steve was so tired. He had tried sleeping but every time he closed his eyes he would dream of Anderson beating Danny and he could hear him pleading for it to stop and yelling for Steve to help him. Steve would run to help but he always seemed too far away. After about the 7th time of waking up from the nightmare, Steve had given up, grabbed his swimming trunks and went out to the ocean to think. Danny pleas kept running around his head as he swam.

What kind of partner was he? Being overjoyed that Danny was kissing him and thinking they should go upstairs whilst Danny was taken back to a horrid memory of being beaten - one he was still in when they had stopped kissing and asked Steve not to hit him thinking he was Josh. Something that should have been seen as sweet and simple brought pain to Danny.

The HQ doors opening brought Steve out of his thoughts and when he looked up it wasn't Danny walking through them, it was Emily. She had a furious look on her face as she stormed up to Steve, slapped him in the face and yelled "Why the hell did you have to go and do that for?"

"What the hell was that for?" Steve asked stepping back, the cousins just stood there in shock.

"You are such a complete idiot." Emily said emphasising each word with a hit to his arm. "Why did you have to kiss him?" Emily asked sounding defeated.

"Kiss him? Chin and Kono asked together, their eyes somehow becoming even wider.

"I didn't, he kissed me." Steve replied ignoring the cousins rolling their eyes at each other. Yes, he knew that was a childish answer but it was the truth.

"Yeah but you didn't exactly stop it until he pushed you off." Emily countered back, arms crossed.

"Hold on. How do you know this?"

"Because he drove to my house and told me." So that's why Steve couldn't find Danny. Why didn't he think of Emily? "He told me everything, he was confused and disoriented. Did you not think for one moment that it would be a bad idea to kiss him, even though you don't know the story you can at least guess what happened. And now he's been taken and it's all your fault!" Emily knew that was a low blow, knowing it had hit by the look of hurt in Steve's eyes, but she was angry at Steve. And herself. She was the one who told her dad to speak to someone.

"Taken? What do you mean taken?" Kono asked.

"Taken as in kidnapped, gone, _missing_." Emily said sounding very much like Danny at this moment "I went by his apartment this morning, he wasn't there and it was a complete mess."

"It normally is; that doesn't mean he was taken." Steve tried to joke but the feeling of dread started to grow in the pit of his stomach.

"Does this look normal?" Emily asked getting out her phone, bringing up a picture and showed the others. It was a picture of Danny's apartment, everything was upturned, furniture was thrown across the room; the single picture of Grace lay smashed on the floor with blood splattered across her smiling face. Steve felt his blood run cold as he took in the photo in front of him. "Now do you believe me?"

Chin pulled out his phone "I'll call HPD and go to his apartment to check it out."

"No!" Emily protested, "There isn't time, _he_ must of taken him. We need to start looking now before it's too late." Steve could see Emily was panicking, she needed to calm down this wasn't going to help Danny.

"Who's taken him?" he asked.

"Joshua Anderson." Emily replied.

Steve felt sick "How can you be so sure?"

"Well it isn't exactly a coincidence that he'sappeared and Danny has gone missing. We don't have time for this; we need to start looking now before he does any more damage to Danny."

"Emily, calm down, we'll look for Danny but we can't be sure it is Anderson. We don't know the full story between those two. We need to know everything." Despite what Danny said, Steve didn't like going in half blind and if Anderson did have Danny they needed to know all about him or they could be doing more bad than good.

Emily sighed "Ok, I'll tell you what happened but it isn't really my story to tell and I only found out by accident so I don't know the whole story." Chin and Kono moved closer to listen.

"How did you find out?" Kono asked.

"Does it really matter? All you have to understand is that Danny doesn't do flings or one night stands, he loves you with all his heart, unguarded." Everyone noticed that she was staring straight at Steve as she was talking "when Rachel left him, he was so broken, he just needed someone to hold and touch him like he was loved again and _he_ gave Danny that at the beginning. Most nights Matthew would sit with Danny to listen to him and they would get drunk together. But one weekend Matthew had to go on a business trip, so, instead of getting drunk on his own, Danny went to a bar and that's where he met _him_."

Each team member was listening intently; they could hear the bitterness in Emily's voice when she mentioned Anderson. Steve didn't want to know but he has to ask "what happened next?" Emily had to fight back the tears as she remembered the way Danny had looked as he was reliving his most painful memories.

 _Emily was sitting, facing her father, on the sofa-bed. She held his hand, giving him the silent comfort he needed to continue. She could see it was hurting him but when she saw the scars she had to know. 'Josh came up and sat next to me at the bar, ordering a drink for himself and another one for me. We started talking, I told him about Rachel and Grace and about my job where he told me he had just moved to New Jersey and worked as a trainer at a gym.' Danny took a deep breath 'you have to understand, Em, he was making me feel good and almost human again, I couldn't remember the last time I had laughed before I met Josh. If only I knew what he was really like.' Emily squeezed his hand_

' _Dad you weren't to blame for what happened. How could you of known? What he did to you was wrong.' Danny tried to smile but he couldn't stop himself thinking that it was his fault and that he deserved it. 'Because I had more to drink than he did, Josh gave me a lift back to Matty's. He helped me to the front door and as I turned to say thanks he leaned in and kissed me. I didn't know what to do; I've had curious thoughts since high school but never acted on them because I was scared of what people would do. But with Josh, although it was my first time kissing a guy, it felt amazing and right. He pulled back, handed me a piece of paper before walking to his car and driving off.'_

' _What was on the paper?' Emily could probably guest._

' _His phone number.' Danny replied with a slight smile 'I wasn't going to but I called him the next day to see if he was busy. We went out a couple of times after that and then for our forth 'date' we went back to his apartment. It wasn't that big, just a simple, small one bedroom. We sat down and started talking, it was so easy to just to be able to open and talk to someone. It reminded me of when Rachel and I started dating. But then...' Danny stopped, turning his face away from Emily as his cheeks turned a little pink._

' _But then?' Emily prompted ignoring the fact that her father was clearly embarrassed._

' _He kissed me, which I quickly responded to. I'm not sure how long we sat there kissing but when he reached for my shirt to undo it I had to pull back and stop him. I told him I'd never done anything like that with a guy, he smiled and told me he would be gentle. And he was...at first but then half way through I don't know something seemed to snap and he became rougher. I told him it hurt, Josh just replied that it always does the first time so I went along with it.' Emily gave him a disbelieving look and he shrugged in return 'how was I suppose to know any different? I trusted him and I thought that's how guys did it.'_

 _Danny got up and started to pace around the tiny apartment. 'After that is all changed,_ he _changed. He became jealous, rougher and violent. He always seemed to be angry with me, it would be worst if he had been drinking. I'd come back to his apartment and he would shout and hit me, then completely turn around and say sorry and that it was my fault I made him so angry.'_

 _Emily jumped off the sofa and pulled Danny into a hug. 'No it wasn't. What he did to you was wrong and manipulative. None of it was your fault, you can't believe that.'_

 _Danny pulled back slightly 'I know, it's just it was so hard trying to deal with Rachel and the divorce, finding time to see Grace, work and hide what Josh was doing to me. If I had maybe spent more time with him –'_

' _He still would have hit you even if you spent every single minute of the day together.' Emily pulled her dad back into a hug as she blinked away her tears._

Emily wiped away a couple of stray tears as she took in the three shocked faces in front of her. "Do you know the reason why Danny moved to Hawaii?" She asked.

"To be with Grace when Rachel moved here with Stan." Steve answered.

Emily nodded "That's most of the reason; the rest is that he was running away from _him_. Danny may bitch about how much he hates Hawaii and Rachel moving here but he is secretly happy that he got a second chance to escape."

Steve frowned, "A second chance?"

"You've seen the scars on his back?" The team could only nod in response, horrified at what came out of Emily's mouth next. "Because Danny spent a lot of time at _his_ place, to keep _him 'happy',_ he had quite a lot of his stuff there. One day he packed his things and tried to leave but _Anderson_ came home early and caught him. Hewent mental; Danny tried to stand up to him and leave but that only made him worse. He beat Danny so badly that he had to spend a week in hospital and Anderson told him that the scars would serve as a reminder to Danny that he can't ever leave." Emily felt a new set of tears building up and she quickly blinked them away - they wouldn't help erase the past.

She looked at each team member in turn: Kono was wiping away her own tears; Chin had his arms folded and, although his face revealed nothing, his eyes showed he was upset and angry; and Steve? All the blood had drained from his face and there was a look as if he wanted to cause some serious damage to Anderson (which Emily was all up for) masking his face.

Steve cleared his voice "How can you know all this when Danny didn't even mention a word to us?" _'To me?'_ Steve felt hurt. Danny knew almost everything about his life and he thought he knew everything about Danny's. They were Ohana. Ohana told each other everything with no judgement.

"Okay, one) when would of been the perfect time from him to tell you that, for about a year, he dated a guy who beat him, left scars on his back and destroyed his already low self confidence? And two) I'm his daughter! Of course he was going to tell me what happened when I saw the scars. And unlike you I didn't keep asking what happened. I just gave him space and he told me in his own time and when he was ready." Emily practically shouted at Steve.

Steve was a little taken back at the outburst; she had definitely developed Danny's temper. As much as he loved Grace he hoped she didn't inherit Danny's rage issues as well...

Before Steve could respond to what Emily said and when it looked like she was going to hit him again, Chin stepped in with "Yelling isn't going to help Danny. We need to find a connection between the four crime scenes and how that might help find him."

Kono sent each victim's profile to the monitors, leaving all the evidence information and photos of each crime scene on the computer table. The team got to work looking for anything that could help them find Danny, while Emily just stood in the background looking at the victim's profiles. After about ten minutes Emily gasped. She'd got it!

Three heads looked up at the sounds with frowns on their faces. "What?" Steve asked when it looked like Emily wasn't going to say anything.

"And you call yourself the Governor's task force?" She muttered under her breath before speaking up "Look at each one of them, what do they all have in common?" Emily asked pointing at each picture.

"They all look the same." Kono stated.

"Yes but who do they all look like?" Emily insisted.

"Danny?" Steve asked curious to where Emily was going with this.

Emily nodded "And all four of them came from the East Coast. Okay, one of them came from New York but the other three all lived in different parts of New Jersey and who do we know who's moved from there?"

"Danny," Steve said again realisation hitting him.

"Exactly. And the only way he could have found this information out is he would have had to get quite close to each one of them - which suggest he has been in Hawaii for at least as long as the first victim had, unless he found them in New Jersey and New York and just followed them here." Emily pondered, turning around to look over the crime scene photos on the table.

A little shocked at Emily's findings, Steve turned to Chin "Anderson has clearly been planning this. I want you and Kono to go over to Danny's place to see if you can find anything." Just before the cousins made their way to leave Emily spoke up "There's no point, you won't find anything there."

"And why is that?" Steve demanded "They found a fingerprint at the third crime scene and he used his credit card at the fourth."

"...The same reason why they didn't find anything at the first two crime scenes." Curious, the cousins walked back towards the table and Steve gestured for Emily to continue.

"We know he was planning this. Who's to say the fingerprint and the credit card weren't part of the plan?" Emily continued, swiping the crime scene photos up on the monitors.

"Anderson would hit Danny in the face a couple of times to knock out his balance. The rest would go below the neck where he could be more violent because Danny could cover them up. Look at where the bruising and scars are on these men." As the team stepped closer to see, they noticed each man had a couple of bruises on his face whereas his torso was covered in a medley of dark purple bruising.

"The finger print and credit card weren't mistakes. He knew as soon as you ran the finger print his record would come up. Those along with the men's profile and where the bruises are, it's like he's warning Danny and making him scared of what he's going to do to him. Killing an associate of the Governor's was just a way to lure Danny out and to make sure he got the message directly." Emily finished, turning to see three completely gob smacked faces.

' _Wow Emily could be right, how could we of missed this? If Danny told us what was going on we could have worked it out sooner and protected him.'_ Steve mentally kicked himself, now was not the time for blaming people.

"Good work Emily." Emily gave a small smile in return.

"Cop's daughter remember?" How could they forget?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know its a bit late to ask but who else is excited that H5-o started on New Year's Day? (I screamed when I saw that) The UK is a bit slow XD but OMG I do NOT like Jenna or Lori who's with me? I was just warming up to Jenna and then BAM! shes working for Wo Fat! And don't get me started on Lori, lets just say I don't like the fact that she is getting in the way of Steve and Danny's bromance.
> 
> Enjoy! x

Danny groaned. His head was killing him. It felt like a herd of elephants were tap dancing on it. He tried to open his eyes to gather his surroundings but instantly closed them again when a wave of nausea hit and the pain increased.

"Finally awake I see," came a voice from somewhere in the room.

' _No! It couldn't be.'_ Danny panicked as he opened his eyes - more slowly this time so the nausea wasn't so great. Moving his head slightly left he felt it lightly sticking to whatever he was lying on, and there sitting in the corner of the room was Josh.

Danny tried desperately to get up and move away but felt a burning as he pulled on his wrists and ankles, he realised it was no good. Danny was tied up. And, after looking to see to what, he felt sick. Not only had he gotten a concussion and a cut to the back of his head but Josh had tied him to a bed. He'd also taken Danny's shirt off. Josh just smirked at the look of terror on Danny's face.

"I told you, you could never leave. You disobeyed me." Danny continued to resist his restraints but it was useless. Danny's memory was foggy though he supposed Josh must've ambushed him when he returned to his apartment and brought him here, wherever here was.

"Josh," Danny tried to sound brave but the way his voice wavered told him something different. "Why are you doing this?" All of a sudden the smirk on Josh's face was gone and he was standing right over Danny.

"Because this is nothing more than a little slut like you deserves." Josh spat, his breath reeked of alcohol. "I saw you with _him_ , don't try to deny it."

"What?" Danny tried to jerk his head away from Josh's but that just made the pain in his head worse. "I have no idea what you're talking about." No sooner had Danny finished talking than Josh grabbed the back of his head and pulled him forward as far as the ropes would allow. Danny yelped in pain as Josh moved his face closer.

"Don't you dare lie to me, you piece of shit. I saw you and _him_ together yesterday, telling _him_ to be careful, taking your shirt off in front of _him_ , _kissing him_." Despite the pain, Danny's eyes widened in shock – Josh had been watching. If he saw Danny kissing Steve, he knows where Steve lives and if he followed Danny back to his apartment he now knows where Emily lives.

As if reading his mind, Josh smirked "Yes I know where that little bitch lives too. Young, blonde and very pretty, just the way I like them." Danny tried to move out of Josh's hold but he just tightened his grip.

"Don't you dare touch her!"

"Or what?" Josh sneered "Even if you weren't here, tied up, you couldn't stop me. I can be charming when I want to be, you of all people must remember. You were so easy and desperate, just imagine how easy she will be."

"No! Leave her alone She has nothing to do with this. You've already ruined one family and you got what you deserved. She's been through enough in her life." Danny could feel panic building up inside making his head dizzy.

"That whore deserved what she got and so do you" And that's when Danny felt the familiar pain of Josh's knuckles and his body started to shut down , becoming more numb with each hit Josh gave him.

 _ **000** _

Steve's heart sank with every second they didn't find anything: Kono was going over the crime scenes again to see if they had missed anything; Chin was looking into Anderson's background and family whilst Emily was in Danny's office on her phone. After about five minutes of pacing, Kono had given Steve a stern look and now he was in his office, worrying at his lip, waiting for something, anything, that would give them a lead to find Danny.

There was a knock on his door and, without waiting for Steve to allow her in, Kono opened the door saying "Chin thinks he's found where Danny might be" before walked back over to her cousin. Steve quickly got up and walked out of his office to join the pair with Emily close behind him.

"What have you found?" Steve asked, already mentally getting ready to go.

"Well," Chin replied, bringing up a picture of an elderly woman "when Anderson was convicted and sent to prison, he lost everything and his whole family stopped speaking to him apart from one person." Chin pointed at the photo "Katharine Martin, a very distant aunt of his, who was the only one who protested Anderson's innocence. Miss Martin had been living in a small two bedroom in Richards Street in Downtown Honolulu until a year ago when she passed away. And guess who she left the house to in her will?"

"Anderson?" Steve asked

"Yep" replied Chin "Here's the address."

"OK" said Steve, taking the piece of paper from Chin "Gear up and let's go." As Chin and Kono went to grab their stuff, Steve turned to find Emily staring with a very determined look on her face.

"I'm coming with you."

Steve shook his head "No, Emily, it's too dangerous."

"I don't care!" Replied Emily, folding her arms and resisting the urge to stomp her foot – it didn't work on Danny so why would it work on Steve? "He's my dad! He's all I've really got left," her voice becoming a whisper. "And besides I've been in dangerous situations living in New Jersey for seven years." Steve felt a pull on his heart when he saw Emily's eyes fill with pain and anger. Judging by her tone, something serious happened to her in New Jersey - possibly the reason she now lives in Hawaii - and the way she mentioned that Danny was her only family suggested her and her aunt don't get on very well.

"I know, Emily." Steve said in a calming voice "we all want to know if Danny is ok but he would kill me if we brought you along let alone if anything happened to you" Steve held up a hand when it looked like Emily was going to protest, noticing the time on his watch as he did so. Frowning, he said "and shouldn't you be in school by now?" Emily just smirked as Chin and Kono came over to them ready to go.

"Aren't you twenty-four hours a bit late asking that question?" She replied. Steve was surprised and glowered at the fact that Danny let Emily miss school the day before.

"Stay here." Steve said, pointing at Emily – why did it feel like he was telling off his own daughter and not Danny's? "We'll get an officer to come and get you when we've found him, ok?" Emily reluctantly gave a nod and walked to Danny's office. "Ok, let's go." And with that the three team members left.

 _ **000** _

Danny didn't know how long Josh had been hitting him; he just kept his eyes closed. His concussion was making him disorientated and his body remembering the beatings, even after a year of being away, was numb from the pain. However, he did feel Josh move his hands down to his slacks and start to undo them. Danny tried to move and throw Josh off of him but he couldn't get his body to cooperate and he was still tied to the bed. Josh just smirked as Danny tried to struggle.

"What's the matter? You know this is my favourite bit."

Just as Josh finished undoing Danny's trousers, there was a crash from the door and a chorus of "Freeze! 5-0!"

Danny's confused mind tried to move his body away when he felt Josh get pulled off of him and a new pair of hands were touching him.

"No! Please, don't." Danny didn't care that he was begging and sounded weak; he didn't think his body could take a beating from someone else. He flinched when he felt a gentle hand on his cheek "Danno? It's ok; open your eyes."

As Danny slowly opened his eyes, Steve took in the rest of his body. There were already deep purple bruises forming on his torso and Steve could see dried blood on the pillow under Danny's head. "Steve?" While untying Danny's wrists, Steve turned his head to Chin.

"Go check the rest of the house and call HPD." A hiss of pain escaping Danny's lips made Steve turn his head back and a new wave of anger overcame him. Danny's wrists were red raw from trying to get away. "Kono," Steve said through gritted teeth "get Anderson out of here and book 'em before I shoot him." Kono tried to push Josh out of the room but with his shoulder he knocked Kono to the floor, grabbing her gun in the process, and pointed it at the back of Steve's head. Ignoring the intense pain in his ribs, Danny sat up and grabbed Steve's gun.

"Goodbye, Josh" Danny whispered as a single gunshot ran out through the house. Danny slumped against the bed and gave into the darkness that overtook him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: People I am soo sorry for the late update, I have been beyond busy! You can rip this chapter apart because I don't think its very good but it was for some reason taking me forever to write and I thought I better stop, update and start a new chapter.
> 
> Hope the chapter makes up for the lateness and that I left you guys hanging for so long. Enjoy! x

Danny slowly opened his eyes to the sound of beeping and found himself in a crisp clean white hospital room. His head was killing him and the feeling of panic rising in his stomach wasn't helping. There was the sound of breathing deeply to the left of Danny, just out of his line of vision. Josh was here, still alive!

Had Danny made up the whole thing of Steve rescuing him? Judging by his headache it was more likely than not. Josh must've brought Danny to the hospital, making up stories and playing the concerned boyfriend like he'd done before.

Wanting to face Josh now rather than when they were alone, Danny tried to turn his head but the throbbing in his temples only increased until it was just too painful to move. A whimper escaped from Danny's lips. There was the sound of a chair scraping back and after a moment a hand rested on Danny's arm, just below his elbow. Danny tried to jerk his arm away but the hand just tightened its grip and a firm but caring "Danno?" entered his ears.

That didn't sound like Josh; only two people in the whole world were allowed to call him that and the hand felt too big to be Gracie's. Danny slowly opened his eyes to find the gorgeous sight of Steve, with a tired relieved smile on his face, standing by his bed.

"Steve?" God was that his voice? It sounded like two pieces of sandpaper being rubbed against each other – felt like it too. But he couldn't find himself to care as he took a sip of water from the cup Steve had pressed to his lips. He couldn't believe it – Steve was here, safe. Alive! No sooner had that thought entered his mind than another took its place, one that caused panic to rise in the pit of his stomach. What about Josh?

Danny tried to sit up but searing pain flared up in his ribs as he tried to move.

"Danny! What are you doing?" Steve asked, concern filling his voice as he gently pushed Danny back down on the bed as Danny tried to breathe through the pain. Danny had to ask, he _needed_ to know if Josh was still alive and, what about Emily? Was she safe if Josh was still in Hawaii?

"Josh?" Danny asked, searching Steve's face for anything that would confirm his fears but his face remained blank. Only his ever expressive eyes revealed how worried he was. Steve sighed, putting both his hands on the bed.

"Danny what do you remember?" he asked, his voice firm but soothing.

Memories of what happened flashed across Danny's mind, the recollection of Josh hitting him kept replaying. Danny tried to close his eyes to get rid of it but the pain was becoming too much. He didn't want to remember - not if it caused this much pain. Telling Steve would make it all too real. Then Steve would turn away from him; leave him, with a look of disgust after realising how weak Danny really is.

Danny felt Steve's hand back on his arm.

"Please, Danno. You need to tell me what you remember." Danny didn't want to but Steve's voice was filled with concern making him open his eyes. Taking as deep of a breath he could without causing pain to himself, Danny took in Steve's face for the last time before the other man walked away and averted his gaze to the window, where it seemed to be getting lighter – he must have been out for a long time.

"I remember waking up, tied to the bed, with Josh in the room. I don't know how I got there; he must have come up behind me at my apartment."

"He did" Steve replied, his voice sounding angry. "Emily showed us pictures and, before you ask, she's safe, an officer is bringing her to the hospital." Steve quickly added as Danny tried to sit up again. Danny sighed through the pain. Emily was safe.

"Danny, what happened next?" Steve asked softly when it looked like Danny wasn't going to say anything. Danny kept his gaze on the window.

"Josh said something about you and hurting Emily. I tried to fight back but that just made him angry and then he started to…" Danny let out a shaky breath "Started to hit me." Danny braced himself for the disgusted goodbye, eventually turning his head back to Steve in surprise when he felt Steve's hand tighten around his arm and realised there was no appalled retort.

Steve couldn't stop himself from thinking if only he had gotten there quicker, the guilt building up inside of him. He could have saved Danny quicker.

"I don't really remember what happened after that, it's a bit fuzzy." Danny said, placing his hand on Steve's trying to give him the reassurance that he was ok.

"We found that Anderson had a distant aunt who left him a house here." Steve said filling in the blanks for Danny. Steve took a deep breath, how far should he tell Danny what happened? "When we got to the house and went inside we found you in the bedroom, tied to the bed with him on top, hitting you." Steve practically spat out in anger, his guilt coming back in full force. "I managed to get him off you and started to untie you as Kono took care of him and Chin checked the rest of the house."

The short memory of Steve untying him, a worried look of his face, entered Danny's mind as Steve hesitated, debating with himself if he should continue.

"He managed to get away from Kono and grabbed her gun. He must've aimed it at me because…" Steve stopped talking when he felt Danny's hand tighten around his and barely heard the "I shot him?" that escaped Danny's lips. Danny could hear the gun shot running through his head, he must've grabbed Steve's gun without thinking.

"Yes," Steve answered quietly. "You hit him in the chest and he bled out before an ambulance could get to the house." Danny didn't know what to say. Josh was dead. He thought he would feel happy, relieved that Josh wasn't tormenting him anymore. He no longer had to live in constant fear. He thought he would feel at least _something_ but he felt…empty.

Exhaustion suddenly took over Danny as the feeling of no longer needing to worry about Josh hurting him or his family drained from his body and he felt his eyes start to droop. But he couldn't go back to sleep, not yet. There was something nagging him at the back of his mind that he needed to talk to Steve about but he couldn't think what. His mind was foggy and his thoughts jumbled.

Seeing Danny was having trouble staying awake, Steve let go of his arm and tried to help make the other man comfortable. Danny tried to protest, tried to get his brain to remember but he couldn't summon it to the front of his mind from the murky haze it resided in.

He didn't want to fall asleep; he didn't want to give into the darkness. What if the nightmares came back? Josh may be gone but that didn't mean Danny was free from him. He couldn't risk Steve finding out about them; it would mean more explaining about a subject he didn't want to talk about.

"Danno, we'll continue to talk later ok? Right now you need your rest." Steve said gently, ignoring Danny's protests. Seeing that he wasn't going to win against Steve's determined face, Danny started to allow his mind to give into the darkness that was pulling him under. He was almost asleep when something clicked in his brain and his hand shot out to Steve's arm as he made his way back to the chair.

"Grace?"

"I called Rachel while the Doctor was checking you out." Steve reassured Danny "And we both agreed that you wouldn't want Grace to know fully what happened or to see you like this so they'll be flying back from England in two weeks just like originally planned."

Danny smiled and removed his hand from Steve's arm.

"Thank you." He whispered as he closed his eyes, slightly worried that the nagging feeling was still in the back of his mind. It was something to do with the night he was taken _that_ he was sure but of what it was exactly he had no idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: I have to say that Ep 8 has to be one of the best eps and one of my favs! <3 it soo much!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: Omg! I'm back and I've finally finished my 10th chapter! Yay! I'm so sorry for taking so long but I'm back :) I'm not sure about the ending of this chapter but I thought might as well post it up. BIG thanks to breakcamp for betaring for me :) So here you go chapter ten. Enjoy! x

The next time Danny came round he was welcomed by the sound of hushed voices.

"Are you kidding me? Sexy eyes. Seriously?" Emily whispered "No! The best song in the world has to be I'm Not Okay by MCR. Hands down best band to come out of New Jersey."

"Bad Medicine, Bon Jovi." Danny smiled as he slowly opened his eyes to find four happy faces looking at him.

"Dad!" Emily breathed in a sigh of relief and leaned in to give Danny a tight hug. Which she immediately pulled back from when she heard Danny hiss in pain. "Oh God, Dad I'm so sorry."

"I'm fine, Emily." Danny replied, trying to smile through the pain.

"Fine isn't a word I would use." Came Chin's wise voice from a hospital chair.

"Yeah, Danny" Kono's voice spoke up "I've seen people who've wiped out look better than you do at the moment."

"And it's great to see you too." Danny joked as he looked over to Steve, who had a small smile on his lips and a relieved look in his eye.

Danny turned his gaze back to Emily when she began to shake her head. "No, Dad how can you say you're fine when you have a concussion, bruised ribs and a deep cut to the back of the head? You're in hospital because of _him_ and it's all my fault."

"Emily it was _not_ your fault that Josh took me." Danny quickly argued, taking Emily's hand into his.

"Yes it is, Dad. After you told me what happened at Steve's I shouldn't have let you leave, you were still so scared." Tears started to well up in Emily's eyes but she didn't care, she had come too close to losing Danny.

"When I saw your apartment, I went straight to the 5-0 headquarters because that's all I could think of. Dad, I didn't know what to do, I had to tell them the story, it was the only way for them to understand and to find you. I'm so sorry. I know you hate talking about it and that it wasn't my place to tell but... Dad I was so scared. You're all I've got left. I couldn't lose you too - like I did Mum." Tears were now flowing freely down Emily's cheeks and after wiping them away; Danny pulled her into a hug ignoring the painful protest from his ribs.

"Em, you don't need to apologise." Danny said in a soothing voice as Emily pulled back from the hug. "I'm not angry at you; they had to find out sooner or later." Emily tried to give Danny a small smile "And hey you could never lose me and you haven't lost your mother either. She's still here." Danny replied.

"I miss her so much." Emily whispered as a new wave of tears started.

"I know you do." He gave Emily a sad smile "I do too."

Steve quietly observed the two blondes on the bed with a slight frown on his face; he had no doubt he knew who they were talking about – Emily's mother. ' _But who was she?'_ Thought the SEAL _'And what happened to her?'_

"Uh oh don't frown too much; you might hurt yourself Super SEAL." Danny tried to joke as Steve locked eyes with him.

"Danny how can you be joking about this?" Steve asked, frustration building up inside of him.

"What are you talking about?" He had a feeling he knew what Steve was talking about but he didn't want to talk about it, not here, not ever.

"Danny, you're in hospital with several injuries due to a man we knew nothing about, who you've clearly had a painful past with." Steve replied, walking towards the bed, not caring if they saw the fear in his eyes – someone had hurt his Danno, he had come too close to losing him. "Before that, we meet a girl who just happens to be a daughter you've kept secret for who knows how long? Danny, what else haven't you told us?" _'Told me'_

Danny looked at each team member in turn, Kono obviously couldn't stop her curiosity showing, Chin was slightly better, only showing it in his eyes where as Steve was in full 'tell me before I blow something up' mode.

"You should tell them." Came a quiet whisper from the teen sitting on the bed. "They have a right to know what happened and who I am." Emily gave her father's hand a gentle squeeze "I know it hurts Dad but I trust them and I want to tell them."

Danny sighed, he knew his daughter was right but that didn't mean it made it any easier to tell. "If you're sure, Em?"

Emily gave a quick nod and a small smile "I'm sure."

"Okay."

He shooed away help as he struggled to sit up in pain. Danny looked up to see everyone on the team had not so subtly moved forward whereas Emily had made herself more comfortable, facing the others, on the bed.

Danny cleared his throat. "I met Harriet at High School, she was so beautiful, blonde hair, blue eyes - she was my best friend and a life saver when I busted my knee." Everyone could see the small smile growing on Danny's face as he remembered.

"We would always be with one another, messing around, getting into trouble and people thought we would get together and, for a time, I did too, but things got confusing and the feelings died down."

"It was the summer after high school had finished, I was sorting out my stuff, ready for the police academy, I knew early on that I wanted to help out people - like my dad. Whereas Harriet, with her parents and her older sister Sophie went on holiday - to Hawaii of all places - as they had a house here." Steve couldn't help but roll his eyes at the small comment.

"Anyway, it was about a couple of weeks before I was due to start. I was at home, thinking about when I should begin packing while my parents took my siblings out for the day. I was sitting on the couch when there was a knock on the door."

_Danny turned off the TV as he got up to answer the door 'Harriet?!' Danny said in surprise as he opened the door to find his best friend standing there, crying._

' _Oh Danny' was all she said before wrapping her arms around his neck and started crying into his shoulder. Danny instantly hugged his friend back, not asking what was going on just yet, letting Harriet cry it out first before he did._

_When Harriet had calmed down, Danny wrapped his arm around her shoulder, guiding her into the house, closing the door with his foot._

' _Here, sit down' Danny said pulling out the kitchen chair from under the table 'you want some coffee?' He asked, walking over to the machine._

' _No thanks.' Came a quiet voice from the table 'glass of water please.'_

' _Okay water it is then.' Replied Danny, getting two glasses, filling them up and placing them on the table before he sat down._

_They sat there in silence, Harriet sniffing and rubbing her already red eyes and Danny taking a sip of water._

' _I'm pregnant.' She finally blurted out, looking straight at Danny._

' _What?!' Danny spluttered out._

' _I'm pregnant, Danny.' Harriet repeated as her eyes filled with tears. Danny grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze._

' _How?' he asked._

_Getting a hold of herself, Harriet wiped her eyes, 'Sophie and I were invited to a beach party at someone's house, so of course we went without telling our parents and just like any other under 21 party there was alcohol along with music and guys. Anyway, there was this one guy tall, black short hair, hazel eyes and slightly tanned skin. He gave me a drink, we danced and then we went off on our own…' She stopped as she felt her cheeks go slightly red as Danny kept looking at her 'well, um... he kissed me and you can pretty much guess the rest.' Harriet trailed off, looking down at the table, not looking up when Danny cleared his throat._

' _Uh okay Hattie...' He didn't know what to say, he was still in shock over the fact she was pregnant._

' _Don't think anything bad of me D, I asked if he had protection but he said he didn't have any and I thought I was protected on the pill but I guess I was wrong." Harriet quickly slipped out 'and that's not the worst part.'_

' _Not the worst of it? How is that not the worst of it?'_

' _Danny' Harriet pleaded 'the worst is that I told my parents and they…' tears again started to form in her eyes 'they sent me home, told me when I got there pack my things and get out.'_

"And that's when she burst into tears again and I just hugged her." Danny finished, looking around the completely silent hospital room.

"What happened after that?" Kono asked a few moments later.

"Well, we told my parents, who let her stay with us even though I had moved to the academy, only visiting when I could and them having to look after my younger siblings." Danny replied, trying to get comfy.

"What about her parents? Did they seriously kick her out and not allow her to move back?" Kono asked, shocked that parents could do that to their child.

"Yes" answered a bitter toned Emily "They didn't visit her once, not even when she was giving birth in hospital."

"They weren't exactly happy with the situation so I don't think naming me as the father helped much." Danny quickly said trying to calm the teen.

"But she was their daughter, giving birth to their granddaughter."

"Wait, she named you as Emily's father?" Steve asked, surprised.

"Yeah, she thought it would help somehow but her parents didn't exactly approve of me." Danny gave a small shrug but winced in pain. "Anyway" he said quickly before anyone could comment.

"We survived fine without them. Harriet stayed with my family, looking after Em, working at a café and helping my parents when she could. I went through the academy and graduated as a cop. After that we decided to get a flat together, it wasn't amazing or anything, but for the next seven years we did okay. The only problems we had were that we had a few arguments and when Emily started calling me Dad."

"How was I meant to know I shouldn't of?" questioned the teen on the bed "It's what you naturally assume when you're that age."

"Yeah, well, after explaining countless times why you couldn't call me Dad," Danny raised his eyebrows at Emily "we decided on D would be fine. Although Dad was said a few times, which Rachel wasn't happy about."

"Rachel met Emily and her Mother?" asked Kono.

"No just Emily once, although she wasn't happy that I was living with them either." Replied Danny "But everything was going well, I was living with my best friend and her daughter, had a job I was proud of and I was just starting to date a very hot British women." Danny looked away towards the window with sadness in his eye.

Emily gently took Danny's hand in her own "You don't need to tell them if you don't want to."

"It's okay, Em, I said I would explain so I'll explain." Danny looked back with a sad smile "Rachel and I had been dating for about a month and I decided I would take her out to dinner. I was on my way to pick Harriet up for lunch when I parked and called Rach to see if she was free. I had only parked a corner away from the café to call her, not even five minutes away but…"

Danny could feel the tears build up "But it wasn't good enough, I was so caught up in the call that I didn't notice until it was too late."

"Notice what?"

"A druggie high on something illegal went into the shop and open fired on everyone in there." Emily replied for Danny "...my mother was one of the people killed."

"I was the first on the scene, it was horrible; there was only one survivor." Danny continued "it took two weeks to catch the bastard."

"Who was the survivor?" Asked Kono, Steve looked between Danny and Emily realisation dawning on him.

"I was." The teen on the bed said quietly. "School was closed for the day so I played out back. I was going to surprise Danny."

"She was hiding behind a dumpster when I went to check behind the café. I instantly took her home and looked after her." Danny sighed "She knew I was upset and something was wrong but didn't really understand. She kept asking where her mother was. How was I supposed to explain she was dead? That my best friend had be killed?" Emily gave her father's hand a squeeze to try and make him feel better.

"That wasn't even the worst of it. We were doing okay on our own until Harriet's sister, Sophie, came to the flat. She told me that she was taking Emily to go live with her and her husband in the family home in Hawaii. I tried to argue, saying I've been more like family to Emily than she had but Sophie threatened to expose that I wasn't really Em's father. So Emily was taken with no permission to keep in contact, gone from my life." Danny carefully wiped away his tears and looked around the completely silent room. Everyone had a shocked look on their faces apart from Emily, who was wiping away her own tears.

' _Now they know everything'_ thought Danny _'they know about Josh, who Emily is, everything.'_ Danny suddenly felt exhausted.

Kono stood up and walked to the bed "Danny I am so sorry, I feel terrible for trying to get you to explain earlier."

"It's fine, Kono." Danny gave a small smile as his eyes started to droop.

"Come on cous'." Chin said as he too stood up "we should probably leave him to rest. I'm really glad you're okay Danny."

"Me too." Said Kono before she went over to the door and left behind her cousin.

Emily moved from the bed to a chair and made herself at home, she didn't care what her aunt said, she was staying with her Dad.

"Alright out with it Super SEAL, what's the matter?" Danny tiredly asked Steve, who was still in the room, with a look like he wanted to say something.

"Um well of course I'm glad you're okay Danno and you need to rest but… we need to talk." Replied Steve, they did need to talk about a lot of things, the kiss being the most important. But when Steve saw Danny's eyes close again, he gave a small smile "We can talk later, Danny, you need to sleep." Instead of leaving or sitting down, Steve just stood there awkwardly, not really sure what he should do.

After helping Danny get comfy in the bed, Emily took pity and walked over to Steve. "You need to go home, I'll look after him." She put her hand up when Steve went to protest "I know you don't want to go and that you care about him, but you've been here since he was brought in, you should eat and rest too. You can look after him once you've done that."

Steve wasn't sure what to do, he felt like Emily was using Danny's daddy techniques to try and get him to leave. Steve sighed. Emily was right; he wasn't going to be helpful to anyone if he didn't rest. "Okay, uh, I'll see you in a couple of hours." He still wasn't sure how to talk to the teen.

Emily watched Steve leave, looking back at her father fast asleep as he did so. He would be alright on his own for a few minutes; Emily had something to say to Steve.

Walking out the room, she quickly went to catch up with the three other members of the team. "Hey, Steve?"

"What's the matter?" asked Steve when Emily caught up.

Emily didn't know why but she felt almost nervous, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for slapping you in the face and hitting your arm. I was upset and worried, I'm really sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I understand - you care about him because he's family." Steve replied.

"Still doesn't mean I should have slapped or hit you. That's all I really want to say." She said awkwardly, before turning to walk back to Danny's room.

"Emily, can I ask you something?" Chin piped up from where he had been standing, just out of ear shot a moment before.

"Uh sure, what's the matter?"

"Danny said he lost contact with you, how did you two get in touch again?"

Emily felt her face go red as she gave a quick glace to Steve before answering Chin "One of my friends kinda fancies Steve, saying he's really good looking. She brought into school a newspaper picture of Steve and Dad, I mean Danny, who was standing next to him in the photo. Of course I recognised who it was, who wouldn't with that hair?" Emily gave a small smile "now I know it sounds creepy but after school I went to the 5-0 headquarters and waited till he came out. I had to wait a few hours for him to finish, due to paperwork, and I went to talk to him by his car. That was a few of months ago."

"How come we are only just meeting you now?" asked Kono.

"Between school, work, Grace and my aunt we hardly got to meet and we had so much to catch up on. We wanted to keep it between us two for the time being. But after a few weeks or so I decided I wanted to meet you guys, so I went to his place to surprise him and talk to him about it. That's when I saw the scars on his back which pushed back meeting you guys."

"Don't worry Emily we understand and it doesn't sound creepy." Kono said, with a smile.

"Of course that wouldn't sound creepy to you." Chin rolled his eyes "Thank you, Emily." He said to the teen before starting to walk away with Kono.

"By the way Emily, before you go, I think it'll be okay around us if you call Danny 'Dad'." Steve said with a sad smile – memories of his own father entering his mind.

"Thanks, Steve." Replied Emily with a smile and waited till he had rounded the corner before heading back to Danny – no - her Father.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gosh people, I intended to have this chapter up quickly but life seemed to keep getting in the way. I have finally finished, I'm so sorry for the wait, I hope this chapter is worth it. BIG thanks to breakcamp for betaring for me :) So here you go chapter 11. Enjoy! x

_Two Days Later_

After being very nice to all the nurses and promising the Doctor and the Governor to take it easy, Danny was allowed to leave the hospital. He didn’t mind the hospital; he was, after all, an amazing patient - better than Steve - but still, he had been in hospital too many times recently.

Danny winced as he slipped on his shirt. Most of the swelling had gone but it was still sore. Danny winced again as he moved his arms to do up the shirt, he was already in a lot of pain from putting on his jeans.

There was a knock at the door.  Danny smiled, ‘ _Good, Emily was here’._

 “Come in. Hey Em can you help me?” Danny called out as he turned around to come face to face with…“Steve?! What are you doing here?”

Steve stood there a little shocked seeing Danny’s  bare chest under the open shirt, there was still a few yellowing bruises but nothing as bad when they’d found him. Steve shook his head and averted his eyes from that gorgeous New Jersey chest to Danny’s own bright blue eyes.

“Um I’m here to pick you up.” _‘Out of hospital, not on a date, thank you very much brain.’_   Thought Steve

“Where’s Emily? She was going to take me home.” Questioned Danny

“She told me she couldn’t so asked if I could instead,” Steve frowned “she said she told you.”

Danny sighed _‘Just like her mother, scheming to get him and Steve to talk no doubt.’_ “No, she didn’t. Now if you don’t mind, please go wait outside as I finish getting dressed.” Danny replied to Steve as he tried to do up the first button but just ended up wincing instead.

“Here, let me do that.” Said Steve, walking over to Danny.

“No, it’s fine, I can do it myself.” Protested Danny but he just winced again.

“Uh huh, you’re clearly not in pain at all.” Steve said smiling “Now stop being stubborn and let me help.”

“Fine!” Danny gave in, no way was he pouting and no way did Steve find it cute.

Those few seconds it took to do up Danny’s shirt were torture for Steve; he was so close. He could just lean in a little bit and they would be kissing as Steve ran his hands down Danny’s chest.

“Hey, Steve, you okay?” asked Danny

“Hm? Yeah I’m fine.” Said Steve ridding his brain of the fantasy

“Good so could you let go of my shirt and maybe help me with my shoes?”

Steve instantly let go and grabbed Danny’s shoes “Sorry”.

In truth, Danny didn’t want Steve to let go but he didn’t want Steve to freak out and leave if he tried anything – not that he was allowed to.

After that they didn’t talk apart from Danny saying goodbye to the nurses – which Steve did not like at all, until they were in Steve’s truck driving away.

“Uh, Steve, what are you doing?” asked Danny when he noticed which way they were driving.

“I’m driving, Danno, what does it look like?”

“Yes, I can see that.” Danny replied, getting slightly annoyed “I know I may still get lost on these crazy roads with wacky names but I can identify my apartment is the other direction.”

“You’re right Danny, this isn’t the way to your place but you’re not staying there, you’re staying at mine until you get better.”

“I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself in my own apartment.”

“Danny you need plenty of bed rest to recover, which you can’t do in your shitty apartment. Now, you’re staying at mine whether you like it or not.” _‘And where I can’t lose sight of you again’_ thought Steve.

“Fine.” Danny huffed.  Maybe he was acting like a child but inside he was scared, he had no doubt the nightmares would come back which he would probably have to explain to Steve. Plus what was worse, his feelings for Steve were still in full force – the scene in hospital made that clear – and he had a feeling something happened at the house that he couldn’t or didn’t want to remember.

**_000_ **

Steve shot a quick glance at Danny as he parked the truck; Danny hadn’t said a word and just sulked over where he was staying the remainder of the journey.

Steve wanted to say something but he wasn’t sure what would make Danny understand.

Steve grabbed Danny’s stuff along with a small shopping bag before both men got out the truck and walked to the front door.

Juggling the bags, Steve managed to unlock the door and allow Danny in.

 “You know where the guest bedroom is, why don’t you go rest while I order something for dinner?” called Steve from the kitchen – he did not sound like a housewife, he did NOT sound like a housewife. Frowning when he got no reply, Steve went back into the living room to find Danny staring at the sofa.

“Danny?” concerned, Steve walked over to him “Danny, are you okay?”

Danny tried to answer but he couldn’t, his head hurt too much. There was something he was trying to remember, there was something that happened here, on that sofa. Every time he got close to the answer however it would slip away into the darkness. “Danny?” Steve touched his arm “you need to go upstairs and rest.”

Feeling the touch brought Danny out of his helpless thoughts. “No”

Steve sighed, “You need to rest Danno or you won’t get better.”

“No. I don’t want to go upstairs and rest.” He couldn’t sleep; if he did the dreams would come back from where they had been hiding. He couldn’t sleep and if he did, he’d have to be alone, he couldn’t face telling Steve that.

“Okay, well, I think there’s a game on a channel somewhere, I’m sure we can find one. I’ll order us some pizza; I know no pineapple for you.” Steve joked as he picked up the phone but only got a hint of a smile in return.

Worrying about Danny but deciding to leave it at the moment, Steve quickly ordered the pizza as Danny tried to sit down on the sofa.

“Danny, if you’re not careful, you’ll hurt yourself.” Said Steve concerned as he went over to help.

“I’m fine, stop mother-hening me,” Danny said as he got comfortable on the sofa, trying not to hurt himself too much and shooed Steve away “but you could go get me a beer?” smiled Danny charmingly. That smile always took Steve’s breath away but this time it worried him how quickly Danny went back to acting normal.

Steve headed to the kitchen after handing Danny the remote. He sighed as he grabbed two bottles from the fridge. Steve should be happy that Danny was out of hospital, staying at his and safe but he wasn’t. Danny might be safe on the outside but on the inside there was clearly a battle going on and Steve was worried about what the outcome might be.

“Yo, Steve, where’s the beer?” the sound of Danny calling broke Steve’s train of thought. Finding Danny’s meds, he walked back into the living room and handed Danny the bottle and pills.

“Um, what’s this?” asked Danny, looking at the bottle of water Steve had given him

“What does it look like Danno? It’s a bottle of water for you to take your medicine.” Steve stated as he sat in the armchair seeing that Danny was taking up the whole sofa.

“Uh huh, I can see that Smartass but why have I, the injured party here, got a bottle of water whereas you, who is perfectly fine, gets a beer?” asked Danny, eyeing up the beer in Steve’s hand.

The sound of the doorbell cut into the argument.

“Because Danny” Steve answered as he got up to get the door “you need to take your medicine and you can’t take it with beer.”

Opening the door Steve took the pizza and paid the guy, smiling as he could hear Danny ranting in the background.

As Steve walked past with the pizza, Danny immediately stopped talking and sniffed the air “Mmm give us a slice.”

“Nope,” smiled Steve as he took a slice out the box, taking a bite from the cheesy goodness.

“Excuse me?! And pray tell why can I not have a slice?”

“Pray tell Danno? Really?” Steve asked with a mouthful of pizza.

“That’s beside the point Steven, why can’t I have some pizza?” Danny demanded.

Steve grinned, he loved winding Danny up, it was funny and cute how Danny got all hot and bothered. _‘There’s another way I would love to get him hot and_ bothered’ thought Steve, shaking his head to rid the dirty image that was forming.

“Because, Danny, I can see that the bottle on the table hasn’t been opened meaning that you haven’t taken your pills. No pills, no pizza.” Still smiling Steve grabbed another piece “better hurry up too, it’s going down quickly.”

“Yeah alright Mr Goody Two Shoes, I find it hard to believe that _you_ take your medicine when you need too.” Danny winced as he leaned to grab the bottle – okay so maybe he needed to take them but he wasn’t going to tell Steve that.

Danny stopped mid – stretch as the image of three beer bottles sitting on the table flashed through his mind – ‘ _what the hell?’_

“Danny, are you okay?” asked Steve, concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” replied Danny, taking his meds “There. You happy now? Now pass me a slice of pizza.”

Steve handed over a piece which Danny took greedily before turning up the volume on the TV.

Steve hadn’t even realised the telly was on; he had been so engrossed with Danny he hadn’t even noticed.

“Hey, Steve?”

“Yep, what’s up?” asked Steve, looking back at Danny.

Danny shifted himself, wincing as he sat up a bit on the sofa, he leant over and without thinking pressed his thumb to the side of Steve’s mouth, wiping away a stray splash of tomato sauce from the pizza he’d been eating.

Steve looked just as taken aback as Danny as the shorter man realised what he’d done. Danny’s face reddened in embarrassment.

“Um, you just had some sauce by your mouth that’s all.” Danny said as he quickly lay back on the sofa, wiping his hand on his jeans. _‘What the hell was that about?’_ thought Danny – Steve looked so adorable with the sauce by his mouth, Danny just had to give in to the impulse and touch Steve’s kissable lips.  _‘No’_ thought Danny _‘something like that can’t happen again. Steve can’t find out about my feelings for him.’_

Steve’s face was on fire from Danny touching him. Okay, yes, it had been to wipe some sauce off but Danny’s touch had a profound effect on Steve.

Both men turned their gaze towards the telly, an awkward silence filled the air. They stayed like that for about half an hour but the excitement of the game soon made them forget.

And so that’s how they spent the rest of the evening, eating pizza, watching football and arguing over the ref’s decisions.

“Aw come on that was so a foul.” Steve called out at the TV “did you see that Danno?” Steve turned to face Danny when there was no reply “Danno?”

Steve smiled when he saw that Danny was fast asleep on the sofa. Turning off the TV, Steve quietly tidied up the room before draping the blanket over Danny from the back of the sofa.

Resisting the urge to stroke Danny’s hair, Steve went upstairs to bed. _‘He looks so peaceful’_ thought the tall man as he walked up the stairs. But little did he know about the nightmare Danny was fighting in his sleep.

_‘Danny was sitting next to Steve on the sofa, drinking a beer. He was so nervous, why was he nervous? Danny put his drink down and leaned over to capture Steve’s mouth in a kiss, something about this seemed familiar but Danny didn’t care - he was kissing Steve!_

_A sound of laughter broke the two men apart and all of a sudden Danny was running. He didn’t know why but he just had to run. His legs were hurting, his lungs felt like they were going to explode but he had to keep running._

_Run or die, those were his only options. Run from what he wasn’t sure but he had to, down endless, lifeless corridors. He tried calling out to Steve, someone, anyone, but it was no use._

_The calling out only caused the laughter from behind Danny to become louder, closer._

_“Dannyyy, where are youuu?” asked the voice._

‘No’ _panicked Danny_ ‘it can’t be, Josh is dead, no, no, no… _’_

“NO!” screamed out Danny, bolting up right much to the protest of his ribs. Something was holding onto him, it was Josh, he had to get away.

“Danny!” Steve said firmly, holding onto the struggling blond.

Danny stopped at the sound of his name coming from Steve’s lips. Looking around Danny could see he was in Steve’s living room, on the sofa, with Steve sitting next to him, looking concerned. Danny was safe.

Looking at Steve blew away the remainder of Danny’s nightmare, only for Danny’s face to redden in embarrassment as he remembered the beginning of his dream. Danny darted his eyes down to Steve’s mouth, all he had to do was lean in and… no, he couldn’t. Danny knew now what his mind had been trying to remember, the beginning of the dream wasn’t a dream at all but a memory from a few nights before. That kiss was a dream and a nightmare and Danny prayed Steve wouldn’t bring it up but Danny wasn’t optimistic.

“Danny, are you okay?” Steve asked, still concerned “what happened?”

“I’m fine, it’s nothing, just the peaceful sea as you call it waking me up.”

Steve gave Danny a look, he was clearly lying and Steve wanted to know why. Danny sighed as he saw the look “I’m fine, Steve, please let it go and pass me my meds and water.”

“Danny…”

“Please Steven, I’m tired and in pain, apart from that I’m fine so please pass the meds and go back to bed.” Steve wanted to protest, he knew Danny could be stubborn but seeing the plea in Danny’s eyes he gave in.

“Here,” Steve said as he passed over the medication and water “do you want to stay here for the rest of the night or do you want me to help you up the stairs?”

“I’ll stay here.” Danny replied after taking the pills and slowly lay back on the sofa – he couldn’t risk Steve touching him.

“Okay,” Steve stood up and looked down at Danny “good night, Danno, sleep well.” He said before going back upstairs; worry building up in his stomach.

**_000_ **

The following nights were pretty much the same as the first; Steve would go running into Danny’s room after being woken by Danny’s screams. Steve would try to get Danny to talk about what was scaring him so much and every time Steve would get shut out. It was starting to affect both of them; Steve couldn’t focus at work, being too worried about Danny and Danny would be irritable from the lack of sleep.

_‘Danny was running - it was the same dream. It started and ended the same but it felt different somehow? But Danny kept running, turned a corner and came face to face with a dead end._

‘No,’ _thought Danny_ ‘this isn’t meant to happen.’ _He was beginning to panic; the laughter was getting far too close. Danny tried to double back but when he turned around it was clear it was too late. There stood a dark figure, the main reason for Danny’s nightmare._ “Why do you keep running, D? You know you can’t run away from me.” _Laughed the figure harshly as he moved into the light to reveal…’_

“Steve!” Danny shouted as he sat up in bed, trying to catch his breath.

Danny flinched as the bedroom door flew open to reveal the man of his dreams and nightmares. “I’m here, Danny, what happened?” Steve asked as he moved towards the bed, worry evident in his voice.

“It’s fine Steve” Danny quickly replied “you can go back to bed.”

Steve sighed, frustrated as he sat on the bed “Danny this has gone on for long enough, you need to tell me what’s going on and I won’t leave until you do.” Danny said nothing as he avoided Steve’s eye.

“Damnit, Danny! Tell me what’s going on.” Steve demanded when it looked like Danny wasn’t going to talk “there is clearly something bothering you, plea-“

“I’m having nightmares!” Danny shouted “there you happy now? Are you happy that the big brave cop from New Jersey can’t sleep because he’s having nightmares like a little kid?”

“Danny I-”

“Don’t Steve” Danny sounded defeated “it’s fine, just go back to bed.” He tried to lie back down to turn away from Steve but a hand on his arm stopped that.

“You should have told me.” Steve said softly

“I was scared” Danny replied quietly “I didn’t want you to think I was weak.”

“I would never think that Danny” Steve linked his little finger around Danny’s “you’re one of the strongest people I know; you’re not the only person to have nightmares. Talk to me about it.”

Taking a deep breath Danny looked into Steve’s eyes and all he saw was concern - no anger, no pity, Steve was genuinely worried and wanted to help. “I’m running, that’s all I’m doing is running, down dark corridors. I do and don’t know who I’m running from, they laugh and taunt me but before its revealed who it is, I wake up screaming.”

“Anderson” Steve states, his free hand tightening into a fist.

“Yeah,” Danny replied quietly “It sounds like him but tonight…” he trails off, not really sure if he wants to tell Steve his dream tonight. He’s not even sure why he would dream Steve as the figure when it was Josh who abused him.

“But tonight what, Danny?”

“But tonight was different, I became trapped and the person caught up to me and…it was you. I’m so sorry Steve, I don’t know why but you were there, taunting me and that’s when I woke up.” Danny unlinked their fingers and wiped away a stray tear.

“Danny, there’s nothing to apologise for, you can’t help what you dream about.” Steve said, trying to catch the blond’s eye. “There’s something else isn’t there?” Steve commented when Danny wouldn’t meet his eye.

“No. What makes you say that?” Danny answered far too quickly.

“Come on, Danno you may be able to lie to other people but not to me.  I know you too well for that”.

“What is it with you and calling me nicknames? I know I said I liked you calling me Danno but that didn’t mean you could call me that all the time. It’s still one of my daughters’ nicknames for me, you know?” Danny tried to side track.

Steve smiled “Nice try, Danny, we’re friends, you know you can tell me and I won’t judge. You can trust me.”

And there lay the problem; they were friends, nothing more. Sure Danny trusted Steve with his daughters’ lives but that didn’t mean he was going to tell Steve how he felt about the taller man as it seemed the feelings were one sided.

“I can’t tell you Steve, I’m sorry.” Danny said, saddened by the fact he was too much of a coward to tell his friend the truth.

“Why not?” Steve asked softly, trying to link their fingers back together but Danny moved his hand away. “Danny?”

“I can’t tell you, not tonight.” Danny looked into Steve’s eyes with a pleading look “It would hurt too much if I told you tonight.”

Steve wanted to know what was going on in the shorter man’s mind but seeing Danny’s face, he knew Danny had had enough. Steve wanted to wrap his arms round Danny and hold him, tell him it was okay, that there was nothing to be scared or ashamed of.

“Okay Danny,” Steve said instead “if that’s what you want? I’ll let you go back to sleep.” Getting off the bed, Steve was stopped going to the door by a hand on his arm. Steve looked questionably at Danny’s sheepish face, wondering what the matter was.

“Could you stay here?” Danny asked, avoiding Steve’s eye.

Steve nodded, no words needed to be said or explained, the dark haired man understood how hard it was for Danny to ask. He lifted the covers and climbed into the bed next to Danny. Letting go of Steve’s arm, Danny turned over to face the window. Turning his body towards Danny’s, Steve pulled the covers over them both, placed an arm under the pillow and the other around Danny. Steve regretted placing his arm around Danny when he felt the smaller man tense from the touch. After about a minute of Danny being tense, Steve was going to move his arm but then the blond relaxed into the embrace.

The quiet sound of deep breathing told Steve that Danny had fallen asleep after the little panic. Steve had dreamt and fantasized many a time when he shouldn’t have, about how he would get Danny into bed. Many of them were heated and passionate but Steve wasn’t expecting _this_. Looking at the sleeping form in front of him, Steve was determined to help Danny recover mentally as well as physically. And the dark-haired man hoped Danny would eventually trust him enough to tell him what he couldn’t that night.

**_000_ **

Steve woke up the next morning with the sun coming through a small slit in the curtains hitting his face. _‘That’s odd.’_ Thought a sleepy Steve _‘my window should be above my head.’_ Opening his eyes, Steve found himself in the spare room with a heavy weight on his chest. Memories of the night before popped into his mind as he looked at Danny sleeping. Somehow during the night both men had turned over, Steve on his back with his arms wrapped around Danny and the blond had his head and an arm on Steve’s chest. Steve smiled as he tried to slip out underneath the sleeping man but found himself stuck as Danny snuggled in closer. Steve has always picture this as being the morning after the night before, both of them laying there, with Danny snuggled in close. They just needed to be in Steve’s bed and it would be perfect. However, it wasn’t the morning after the night before and Steve needed to wake Danny before his mind went any further.

“Danny?” Steve whispered at the sleeping blond. “Danny?” He tried again when the first attempt failed. Lifting his hand to Danny’s face, Steve lightly touched his check “Danny?”

All of a sudden Danny’s eyes flew open; he shot up and away from the larger man. He hissed in pain as his body protested at the sudden movement.

“Danny?” Steve questioned, alarmed by Danny’s movements.

“Sorry,” Danny mumbled, his face turning red “I didn’t mean to you know…snuggle cos you know I don’t do that kinda thing, snuggle that is.” Danny’s face redden even more when he noticed Steve was shirtless, how did his miss this crucial detail last night? How did he miss the ripple of Steve’s muscles on his stomach? Steve smirked at Danny’s embarrassed face, stretching out his body “uh huh, see something you like Danny?”

Tearing his hungry eyes away, Danny turned his gaze to the window. “What if I did?” Danny asked quietly.

“What?” Steve sat up, smirk gone from his face.

“What if I did?” Danny said again, this time louder. “What if the thing I couldn’t tell you last night had something to do with it? But I was too scared to tell in case my heart was broken again.” Keeping his gaze at the window, Danny couldn’t see Steve’s shocked face. “What if I didn’t tell you the beginning of my dream? The bit which is a memory of us two kissing.”

“Danny,” Steve breathed, placing a hand on Danny’s back, which the shorter man instantly moved away from, knowing that Steve could feel his scars through the thin t-shirt he was wearing.

“I’m hungry, are you hungry?” asked Danny as he stood up “why don’t you go make some breakfast while I get dressed?”

“Um sure Danny if that’s what you want?” Steve got up off the bed, went out the room and headed downstairs. _‘Nice going idiot’_ thought Danny as Steve left the room.

 _‘What the hell just happened?’_ questioned Steve as he made his way into the kitchen. _‘Danny had basically implied that he had feelings for me and then just blew it off like nothing happened.’_ Steve grabbed an apron, to protect his chest and opened the fridge. _‘Danny has feelings for me. Danny has feelings for me!’_ Steve’s eyes widened as he reached for the eggs and milk _._ Steve couldn’t help the huge grin that spread across his face as he prepared the pancake mixture. However, the smile soon faded as the anxiety sunk in.

 _‘This is good that Danny likes me right? What if he worked out I have feelings for him and is just playing with me? No!’_ thought Steve as he started to cook the first pancake _‘Danny would never do that and the way he was talking, he sounded too serious to be joking. So Danny has feelings for me which is good right? He’ll want a relationship, he doesn’t do flings, which is doubly good because I want a relationship. Danny’s far too important for it to be anything less. But…’_ Steve flipped the pancake over rather harshly _‘_ Anderson _. Would Danny want to have another relationship with a man after what that bastard did to him?’_ Steve didn’t know what to do, this was all very confusing.

Unaware of the battle Steve was having, Danny walked into the kitchen and sniffed the air, “Mmm something smells good.” He commented, walking over to the coffee machine as Steve started on the next pancake.

 _‘He’s acting so normal.’_ Steve thought as he flipped the pancake over _‘here goes nothing.’_ Taking a deep breath, Steve kept his eye on the cooking and said “Danny, what if you weren’t the only one who liked what they saw? But, like you, they were too scared to tell. What if they were happy that you remembered the kiss and they’ve wanted to do it again?”

“Steve…” Danny whispered, suddenly standing behind him. Steve turned off the gas and turned around to face the shorter man.

“I like you Danny. A lot. And I’m guessing from the revelation in the spare room you like me too.”

Danny looked down at his feet, “Yes I have feelings for you but I’m too damaged for you. Why would you want to be with me?” Steve put his fingers under Danny’s chin and gently lifted his face to meet his.

“You’re not the only one who is damaged - you’ve pointed out plenty of times I have Daddy issues. And, I want to be with you because I care a lot about you, Danny. Not only that but you’re smart, funny, sexy as hell and an amazing father to Grace and Emily.”

Danny gave a small smile, “you really see and think that?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I can’t promise this is going to be easy and it’s going to take me some time. It’s been a difficult few years for me and relationships, I may get a few things wrong and freak out.”

“We can go as slow as you want Danny. If we’re going too fast, I do something wrong or you feel like you’re about to freak out, tell me and I’ll help.” Steve said seriously, looking into Danny’s eyes.

“You really care enough about me to do that?” Danny asked, tentatively taking Steve’s hands into his. Steve smiled, squeezing Danny’s hands.

“Yeah, I do.” Moving his head so his lips were an inch from Danny’s, Steve stopped, letting the blond have control over the kiss. After a few moments, Danny slowly closed the gap between them and kissed Steve. It was slow and sweet, just the movement of their lips and if that’s what Danny wanted, Steve was happy with that.

After a few moments, Danny pulled back “Steve?”

“Yes?”

“Why exactly are you wearing a pink frilly apron?” the shorter man questioned. Steve couldn’t help but laugh, placing a quick kiss on Danny’s lips; he turned back to cooking breakfast.


	12. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry I've kept you all waiting, life has been very hectic this last few months but here is the chapter :) I've had it read through so any other mistakes are all mine. Hope you enjoy and was worth the wait xxx

_Six Months Later_

Danny was sitting at his desk in his office working on some paper work, his mind however was elsewhere. He was frustrated. Things between Steve and himself were going great, there were a few mishaps, sure, but apart from that things were fine. But…they had gone no further than making out like teenagers. Every time they would try to go further Danny would have flashbacks causing them to stop. Danny would avoid contact after until he felt himself and in control again. Steve understood and claimed that it didn't bother him but Danny could see differently.

' _Argh'_ This was unfair, Anderson was dead, he shouldn't still be affecting Danny like this. Tonight was going to be different however, Danny was going to beat this, he was determined. Nodding to himself, Danny got up and headed for Steve's office.

"Hey" Danny said as he entered the office, smiling a little at seeing Steve doing his _own_ paperwork for once.

"Hey yourself" Steve smiled in reply, thankful for the distraction.

"Unlike you I've finished all my reports so I'm going to head out, okay? I'll see you later." Danny went to leave.

"Danny?" came a little whine from behind him.

"Yes…?" He turned back around to find Steve pouting, no way should that look so cute on him.

"Can't you stay and help me?" Steve asked with his best puppy dog eyes. Danny was going to have words with Grace; Steve had learnt too much from her.

"Oh no you don't" Danny pointed at Steve's face "don't you try and pull that with me. I have something I need to do and you have work. I'll see you later and you better not be late."

And with that Danny left before Steve could ask

' _late for what?'_

Danny got out his phone as he headed for his car "Hey Em, I need your help."

_**000** _

Steve came home to the smell of something delicious cooking. The smell lured him into the kitchen where he found Danny pulling a dish out of the oven.

"Danny?"

"Well who else would it be?" Danny asked as he put the dish down "good thing you're here as it's ready. Now go sit out on the lani and I'll dish up." Before Steve could ask what was going on, he was pushed out the kitchen. Stepping out onto the lani, Steve could see the table was set for two with candles and a bottle of wine. A little stunned, Steve sat down as Danny came out carrying two plates and a bowl.

"How do you not drop those?" Steve asked as Danny put the dishes in the right places.

"I worked at my uncle's restaurant while in high school." Replied Danny as he sat down and poured out the wine.

Steve didn't realise how hungry he was until the smell of tomato and pasta hit his nostrils. Picking up the knife and fork, Steve took a bite of the lasagne

"MMM wow Danny this is amazing!" Steve greedily took another bite, closing his eyes as the delicious taste of cheese sauce entered his mouth.

"I don't deserve all the credit." Danny said, blushing a little as he reached for a piece of garlic bread. "It's my mother's recipe plus I had some help."

"Well it's good no matter what." Steve smiled, quickly taking another bite. They continued to eat in silence apart from Steve's approving noises, not noticing Danny getting more and more nervous as time went on.

' _I can do this'_ thought Danny as he walked into the kitchen after clearing the table. He didn't understand why he was so nervous, it was just sex. No, it was much more than that. To Josh Danny had been a quick fuck he could abuse but with Steve it was going to be different. It had to be. It was going to be everything it wasn't with Josh. Danny hoped so anyway as he placed the dishes in the sink.

"Hey Danno, do you need any help washing up or is there desert?" Steve smiled as he entered the kitchen.

' _This is it.'_ Thought Danny as he turned to face Steve.

"Cos you know desert is bad for you but I think I can make an excepti- ooph." All of a sudden Steve found himself up against the fridge as Danny started to kiss him hard. As much as Steve wanted to kiss Danny back something was clearly up. Gently putting his hands on Danny's shoulders, Steve pushed him back and said "Hey Danny, hey, calm down. What's going on with you?"

"Steve, I'm so sorry" Danny started to retreat back "I just thought…I'm sorry."

Steve quickly but gently grabbed Danny's hands before he could run off. "You just thought what?" Steve whispered "Tell me, please, don't shut me out."

After a minute or so Danny cleared his throat

"We've been together for a while, I thought you might want to take it further and were getting annoyed with me."

Steve gave Danny's hands a squeeze "I would like to go further with you, yes, but I'm not annoyed at you. I said we could go as slow as you wanted, I want you to want this too."

"I do want this" Danny insisted.

"So you showed that by trying to kiss my face off?" Steve asked, trying to make a joke.

"It's what Josh used to do to me." Danny said quietly causing Steve's smile to fall "I didn't act that way with Rachel" the blonde continued "but I thought it was different with guys."

Steve didn't say anything as he went around the house locking up before gently pulling Danny out of the kitchen. He mentally cursed Anderson for what he had done to Danny as they went up the stairs. The dark haired man stayed quiet as he lead the blonde into the master bedroom and turned to face him. Slowly cupping Danny's face, Steve gave him the chance to pull away before leaning in to kiss him. Keeping the kiss safe, Steve moved his hands to Danny's tie. Moving away from the kiss, Danny looked down at Steve's hands; he could feel the nerves building up.

"Hey, you trust me don't you?" Steve asked softly, his hands stopping from undoing the tie.

"Yes, always" Danny replied.

"Okay" Steve said as he undid the tie and let it slip from Danny's neck. He was about to reach for Danny's shirt when the shorter man took him by surprise, timidly reaching for the hem of Steve's t-shirt. Not really sure what he was doing was right, Danny pulled the top up, feeling a little confident when Steve lifted his arms above his head so the t-shirt could come off. His breath hitched when Steve's torso was revealed, all those gorgeous strong muscles made him look like a god, why did he want to be with Danny? Danny was too busy staring at Steve that he didn't notice his shirt being undone until it was falling off his shoulders to join Steve's tee on the floor. Panic started to build up in the shorter man as he looked at Steve who was moving to stand behind him.

"It's okay, Danny" Steve reassured, barely touching the other man's scars as he traced them with his finger "Beautiful" he whispered before kissing Danny's neck tenderly.

"No I'm not, they're ugly."

"They're a part of you, which means they're amazing just like the rest of you." Steve quickly replied as he moved back to stand in front of Danny, running his hand down the blonde's body to the top of his trousers. The touch caused Danny to shiver; Steve's touch was soft and light, completely different to what he had experienced before.

Wrapping his arms around Danny's waist, Steve looked straight into the smaller man's eyes "Anything you don't like or want me to stop, you say and I'll stop." He said seriously before kissing Danny with a bolder kiss than the one before, slowly moving them towards the bed. The feel of Danny's bare chest against his own felt amazing, the little golden hairs tickling him slightly and causing his cock to harden. Steve wanted this to go well and could feel Danny was enjoying the touch of their bodies as well despite the nerves and unsure hands. When they reached the edge of the bed Steve turned them around and lowered Danny onto it, breaking the kiss.

Making his way down Danny's body, Steve placed kisses everywhere he could reach; loving the fact he could finally do this. Danny closed his eyes, his body felt like it was on fire from all the touches and kisses. His whole body loved the sensation, especially his cock, causing him to let slip a moan from his mouth.

Steve looked up from where he was kissing Danny's hip "You like that Danny?"

"Am I not suppose too? Should I stay quiet?" Danny asked, looking at Steve as panic started to build up, believing he did something wrong.

"No no no Danny" Steve said softly as he quickly went up to Danny's face "You can be as loud as you want if you like something, I wouldn't expect anything less from you. You can tell me to do something if you like it as well as to stop if you don't."

"Could you go back to kissing my hip?" Danny asked quietly, avoiding Steve's eye "Not sure why but they've always been a turn on spot for me."

Steve nodded before placing a kiss on Danny's jaw and made his way back down to where he left off. As the taller man kissed the other's hip, adding a few small bites, causing the shorter man to make small moans, Steve undid Danny's trousers. Danny moaned a little louder when Steve undid the zip that went over Danny's erection.

' _Which is a good sign.'_ Thought Steve as he pulled Danny's trousers and underwear off, throwing them on the floor. _'Means he's here in the moment, not somewhere else, having flashbacks.'_

Steve hummed in appreciation at Danny's fully hard cock standing to attention. Placing both hands on the bed by Danny's hips Steve leaned down before looking up at Danny. "If you don't want me to, just say and I won't."

"No, I want you to." Danny replied faintly.

Waiting a moment for Danny to change his mind, Steve took him in his mouth and slowly stared bobbing up and down, Danny couldn't help the little buck of his hips when he felt the warmth of Steve's mouth on his cock. He knew he shouldn't have moved but it felt so good to feel Steve's tongue swirling around his tip. His hips bucked again accompanied by a deep moan, Steve was going so deliberately slowly. The blonde man looked up when all of a sudden Steve moved away from his cock with a small _'pop'_.

"I'm sorry, I know I'm not suppose to move but I couldn't help it." Said Danny as Steve moved back up the bed to hover over him.

"It's okay Danny, you're allowed to move, I just don't want you to come yet." Steve replied before leaning down to kiss the shorter man. He gently darted out his tongue and ran it along Danny's lower lip. After a moment of hesitation, Danny gradually opened his mouth to allow Steve to explore. Moving his tongue around Danny's mouth for a second or two, not wanting to scare him, Steve leaned back. "What you thinking?" he asked.

"I'm thinking" Danny replied, tenterverly placing as hand on Steve's hip "that you're not naked enough."

"Well we can't have that now, can we?" Steve grinned, Danny was becoming more himself. "Get on the bed properly while I deal with the problem." As Danny moved on the bed, Steve got off to take off his cargo pants and underwear. He couldn't help the moan that escaped his lips as his own erection was released. He may be hard and wanting release, however this was all about making it good for Danny. Gradually getting onto the bed as not to scare Danny, Steve reached into the bedside table to grab lube and a condom before kneeling in between Danny's bent legs.

"You okay?" he asked when Danny looked slightly worried and confused

"Yeah I'm okay." Danny replied "Just um why have you those?" he asked, indicating to the things in Steve's hands. "I mean I know what they're for but they don't apply here do they?" Looking away, Danny could the nerves building back up along with embarrassment.

"He didn't use either did he?" Steve asked softly, lightly brushing his hand up and down Danny's leg to try and get him to relax.

"No, it was all about the nitty gritty, 'get in, get out' without any real intimacy with him." Danny replied, a bitter tone in his voice "so that's what I thought it was like, I was too scared to ask in case he hit me."

"Danny we don't have to if you don't want too."

"No, I want too." Responded the blonde, looking back at Steve "I can't let him control my life anymore. I want to do this Steve, I want to do this with you."

"Okay" Steve kissed Danny's knee before placing the condom on the bed and uncapping the lube. "I need to stretch you so I'm gunna put some lube on my fingers and put them in you one at a time. It'll hurt a little bit but all you need to do is relax okay?"

Danny nodded as Steve poured some lube onto his fingers, letting it warm up a bit before placing his hand by Danny's entrance. As Steve slowly pressed one finger into Danny, the smaller man couldn't help the small hiss of pain escaping from his lips. The pain didn't seem that bad as Steve started to stretch him, just uncomfortable. After a moment Steve took his finger out, adding some more lube before pushing two fingers into Danny. Hissing louder, Danny couldn't help tensing when the pain from Steve's fingers increased to a burning sensation.

"Relax" murmured Steve against Danny's knee, feeling him tense around his fingers "I know it hurts but I promise it'll get better." Kissing his way down Danny's thigh, Steve quietly took Danny back in his mouth as he scissored his fingers to widen the blonde. Danny was conflicted for a few moments as his body experienced the pain and the pleasure Steve was giving him, but soon pleasure took over as he began to untense. Moaning, Danny was so focused on Steve's tongue that he tensed only slightly when he felt a third finger being pushed inside of him.

After a minute or so Steve pulled his fingers out, wiping them on the bed, as well as moving his mouth off Danny's cock. Undoing the wrapper, Steve rolled the condom on before applying lube over his hard cock. Positioning himself, Steve looked up at Danny "You ready?"

Nodding in reply, Danny asked "could you go in slowly?"

"I'll go as slowly as I can." Placing his hands loosely onto Danny's hips, thumbs rubbing circles, Steve began to move forward. He goes in slowly like he promised but it's hard, Danny was tight, even with the lube and Steve had to force himself not to slam forward. Danny couldn't help tensing as Steve moved inside of him, Steve's cock was a lot bigger than his fingers, meaning the burning sensation increased. Steve took a minute, after moving fully into Danny, to gain control before leaning his body down to cover Danny.

"You okay?" he asked, looking down into Danny's eyes. The blonde haired man could only give a small nod as a reply, as he wrapped his legs around Steve's back. "I'm gunna start moving, just remember to relax."

The dark haired man softly kissed the blonde as he started to move to try to calm him down. Danny closed his eyes and kissed Steve back as the pain disappeared and the pleasure increased with every thrust. Moving back just enough, Steve reached a hand between their stomachs and wrapped it around Danny's cock, covering it with slow, easy strokes.

"Steve" Danny warned, breaking the kiss to let his head fall onto the pillow.

"It's okay Danny, just let go." Replied Steve, speeding up both his hand and his thrusts. Although Danny comes first over Steve's hand, the dark haired man follows soon after. His grip tightening on the blonde's hip as he murmurs out "Danny"

They're both breathing heavily as Steve rolls out and off of Danny carefully as not to squash him. Turning his head to look at Danny, Steve finds himself being stared at by the shorter man, who had a small smile on his face. Leaning over, Steve couldn't help but giving Danny a lazy kiss before sitting up, swinging his legs over the bed.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Danny, sounding concerned.

"I'm just getting something to clean up with." Replied Steve, turning to face the man on the bed, as he tied the condom he just took off. "I'll only be gone a second." And with that Steve quickly moved into the bathroom, throwing the condom in the bin as he did so. After cleaning himself up, Steve wetted a flannel and headed back to Danny in the bedroom.

"You were more than a second." Said a sleepy voice as Steve reached the bed. The taller man couldn't help but chuckle as he cleaned up the half asleep man on the bed. After Danny was all clean, Steve chucked the flannel somewhere near the bathroom before lightly tugging the covers from under the blonde and placing them on top of him. As the dark haired man climbed into the bed, Danny turned over and snuggled in close, placing his head and arm on Steve's chest.

Steve was about to make a comment about Danny not liking snuggling but the sound of heavy breathing told him the shorter man had fallen asleep. Wrapping his arms around Danny, Steve closed his eyes to let sleep over take him.

"Thank you" came a sleepy whisper, as both men drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's it, the end :) I would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who read, commented, followed, favorited this story as well as myself, it means so much to me as this was my first everything with fanfiction. You all helped me believe that I was a good writer and you kept me going. xxx


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